A Minute Until Midnight
by SplatterCracker
Summary: [COMPLETED] A ball is an opportunity for many things such as socializing, showing off dresses, eating fine food, and dancing the night away. To Alya, however, it's an opportunity to set Marinette and Adrien up with each other. That is if Chloe doesn't get in the way, of course. (Loosely based off Cinderella) [Reveal fic / Season One]
1. Chapter 1

"That will be all. Class dismissed. Have a nice weekend." The teacher drawled, writing up the last of the chemical equation onto the board. Immediately, the class began shoving their books into their bags, all too eager to leave.

Marinette yawned and stretched her arms above her head, only to be abruptly shaken by Alya.

"What is it–"

Alya grinned and held up her phone, interrupting the girl. Marinette squinted at the phone.

"A contest?"

"A _party,_ " Alya corrected excitedly before taking her phone back and quickly scrolling through it, all the while wearing the same grin. "And not just any party! A fashion party! I just found this during class earlier while I was playing on my phone."

Marinette raised her eyebrow, not quite getting it.

"And?"

Alya rolled her eyes before turning her head.

"Hey, Adrien! Why didn't you tell us you were hosting a party?"

The boy in question looked up in confusion, his bag already in hand and ready to leave. He tilted his head.

"A what? I'm not—Oh," Adrien said, realization dawning on his face. "You mean the fashion contest?"

"Well, duh! It's like a ball, isn't it?" Alya said. "You should have told us!"

"It's a contest," he corrected, shifting his bag strap. "A fashion contest. I didn't think it was worth mentioning."

"But it's basically a ball, right?" Alya insisted, discreetly nudging Marinette.

Adrie shrugged. "I guess. But only models or designers are allowed in and that's only if they wear an outfit either they themselves made or a designer had made. My father decided it would be a good publicity stunt."

"So anyone is allowed in if they wear a handmade original dress?" Alya pressed.

"Or a suit, if they're a guy," Nino butted in with a grin, slinging his arm around Adrien's shoulder. "Why, you thinking of coming?"

"Are you going too?" Alya asked curiously. Then she pointed accusingly at him. "Wait, why didn't you tell me about this if you knew about it?!"

Nino held up his hands in defense. "Hey, I knew that you were going to find out one way or another. Plus, even I only found out _today_. I was going to tell you later."

"Mhm. But last time I checked, you were neither a model nor a designer." Alya raised an eyebrow.

"Adrien hooked me up with a designer whose designs I can wear," Nino replied easily. "Is Marinette here going to make you two some dress?"

Marinette blushed red as Adrien looked at her curiously.

"A-Ah, I don't, um, know...I just found out s-so…" Marinette scratched her cheek nervously. "B-But if Alya insists then I guess I can…"

"That'd be great! Here." Adrien shuffled in his bag for a little bit before pulling out a small stack of envelopes held together by a paperclip. Carefully peeling away two from the bundle, he handed them to Marinette, who took them in a daze.

"These are invitations to the contest, er, ball. Whichever you prefer to think of it as. If you do decide to come, you'll need these to get inside so don't lose them."

"T-Thank me– _you_! Thank you!" Marinette stuttered as she took them, her blush growing more prominent by the second. Next to them, Alya and Nino exchanged a smirk.

" _Excuse me?_ "

Alya groaned.

Chloe pointed a perfect manicured hot pink nail at Marinette and Alya, an offended look on her face. "Did you just give _them_ invitations? Adrien, you _know_ you don't need them at the party. Plus, it's be, like, _so_ embarrassing! Can Marinette even design? And don't even get me started on Alya's hair! Nothing can tame _that_ mess!"

"Chloe, don't be mean. Marinette's a great fashion designer. She won that hat contest, remember?" Adrien said placatingly. But it was in vain.

"Don't remember, don't care."

"Yeah, you don't remember because you cheated in that one, remember?" Alya smirked, crossing her arms. "And sorry, I'd take my hair over yours any day. You don't gotta be jealous of these locks, Chloe."

Chloe bristled. Behind her, Sabrina's mouth had formed a perfect 'o'.

"Why you little–!"

"Annnnd look at the time! We should really be getting home now. C'mon, Nino." Adrien quickly grabbed Nino by the elbow and steered him away, nearly running out of the room.

"Ah! Wait! Adrikins!" Chloe turned quickly, Sabrina obediently jogging after her out the room. "I still have to know what you think of my dress—!"

"Ugh, I can't stand that girl!" Alya crossed her arms and huffed angrily. "Just who does she think she is?! The freaking mayor of Paris?"

"Not quite, but close," Marinette laughed as she handed one invitation to Alya and stuffed the other one into her backpack. "C'mon, we should go too. If we're going then I should really start on those dresses."

"Girl, I know for a fact that you already have a dress or two designed and ready to go. Heck, you already made me some before." Alya rolled her eyes and put a hand on her hip. "You don't have to make me one. Just focus on making one for yourself."

"Yeah, but I've never made one for a ball before," Marinette explained. "If the contest is themed as a ball, shouldn't the dresses be ball gowns?"

"Er…" Alya pulled out her phone, sticking the tip of her tongue out as she checked.

"Invitation...Food...Ooh, that have fancy food...Yadda yadda...Ah, there it is! Shoot, you're right. Is it too much trouble?" Alya asked, frowning at Marinette. "I don't have to go if it's too much. I just assumed it was any kind of dress and that you could just use one of the ones you made before."

Marinette shook her head. "It's okay! It's no trouble, really. We just finished with testing so I have a lot of free time. Plus, I've always wanted to make a ballgown."

"Aww, thanks Marinette, you're the best!" Alya grinned and put her arm around Marinette, guiding her towards the door. "Tell you what, I'll come over as much as I can to help! How does that sound?"

"Alya, you nearly broke my sewing machine last time you tried to help."

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad!"

"Twice."

"Third time's the charm, right?"

* * *

"No, I said I wanted _gold_ trimming! I don't care if your supplier ran out! I. Want. Gold!" Chloe shrieked into her phone before ending the call and hurling it across the room where it hit a sofa and fell safely into the cushions. She almost felt irritated. At least she could get a new phone if her current one broke.

"Chloe, what are you going to do about those two? You know, Marinette and Alya," Sabrina spoke softly as she looked up from the packet of homework she was working on. Of course, there were two packets as they were both for her and Chloe. But not that she was complaining.

Chloe growled. She had almost forgotten about that. "I don't want them there! Can you imagine it! They'll be the laughing stock! Not that I mind but it'll be _so_ irritating seeing them there! It was supposed to be _my_ night with Adrien! I'm the one who is supposed to be dancing with him! I don't want them to ruin it with their filthy presence!"

"Then why don't you tell the guards to not let them in?"

"I don't want my Adrien knowing I did something like that! It is at his mansion, after all. I need something that can't be pinned to me…" Chloe frowned before snapping in realization. She turned to Sabrina and smirked.

" _You_ are going to destroy their invitations!"

"But wouldn't they just get new ones from Adrien?" Sabrina tilted her head questioningly, her pencil hovering just over their papers in a pause.

"Not if you destroy them right before the ball. They can't ask for a new one if it's too late," Chloe said triumphantly. "I'll find a way to distract Adrien from his phone after school Friday until it's all over so he wouldn't know and you'll destroy their invitations after school ends! It's the perfect plan, believe me."

"But Chloe—"

"No buts! I know what I'm doing. And my homework. Hurry up and finish it already! It's been an _hour_!" Chloe said impatiently, looking down at the other girl.

"Yes, Chloe."

 **Author's Note:**

 **Just an idea I've been playing around with. I'll be basing this off Cinderella so forgive me if this resembles another story plot (I actually don't read other Miraculous fanfic so I don't know if this is too similar to another one)**

 **Tbh, I don't know if I'll continue this one. If this gets enough interest then I'll start working on this one as well as my other ongoing stories.**

 **Reviews make me smile :)**


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, so I was thinking, and hear me out on this, that my dress should be mostly back," Alya said with a grin. "Maybe with a touch of purple or something, but _mostly_ black. What do you think?"

"I don't know, Alya. Black doesn't seem to be a, um, ball gown color." Marinette frowned thoughtfully, tapping her pencil on her paper. "I think that red would suit you better."

Alya snorted and nodded towards a roll of dark red fabric, one of many other colors in the corner of Marinette's room. "Like that one? Girl, I think you would look better in that color. Red isn't really my thing. Reminds me of the monthly, if you know what I mean."

"Alya, you wear red _every day_."

"That's normal red. Dark red resembles blood too much for me." Alya suddenly snapped her fingers. "That's it! Black and white! With a touch of purple! Just like Lady Wifi!"

"How did you go from blood to your evil counterpart?"

"Not important. Here." Alya grabbed the notebook from Marinette and, turning over to a new page, started furiously sketching.

A minute later, she proudly showed off her sketch.

It was a sketch of what _looked_ like a dress. Hastily colored in with the pencil, it was a little too messy to be sure of what was what. Several arrows helpfully pointed to the parts that were purple, while others labeled the untouched space white.

"Well? What do you think?"

"It's...very nice, Alya," Marinette said slowly. "Do you mind if I, er, redo it?"

Alya laughed. "Go ahead. You know I'm no good at this whole drawing thing. Knock yourself out."

"Thanks," Marinette said with a smile. She took the notebook back and turned over to a new page, starting on another sketch.

"So? What about yours? Got any ideas?" Alya asked curiously. She sat on the edge of Marinette's bed, slightly leaning forward.

"No, not yet. But I was thinking of blue...Midnight blue to be exact."

"Ooh, sounds nice. Got a sketch?"

"Half of one...I'll have to look up some basic tutorials on making ball gowns before I finalize anything," Marinette said. "It shouldn't be a problem finishing these before...Um...When is it, Alya?"

"Ah, shoot!" Alya said, lightly smacking her head. "I totally forgot to mention the date! It's next Friday, so one week from now. Can you make them in time?:

"Yeah, no problem. As long as I work on these every day, I should finish with time to spare."

"Thanks, girl. You're the best. Have I ever told you that?"

"Every day."

"Good, cause you are. Should I go out and buy some fabric or something? I feel useless being here like this," Alya said.

"Oh, that's alright. I was going to go later because I have a lot that I need to buy. If you want, you can help figure out what we're going to do about our makeup and hair." Marinette pulled a face. "That, I have no idea how to do. So I'll leave those to you."

Alya gave a thumbs up along with a grin. "Leave it to me! Makeup artist Alya here at your service! I'll have to try out some different foundations and concealer on you at a store and figure out if you have more of a yellow or pink undertone; are you free tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Marinette said nodding, not quite understanding what the heck was an undertone. Or concealer for that matter. Yellow or pink? "I don't want to stay out too long, though. I want to get the bulk of the work done this weekend."

"You got it, girl." Alya glanced at the clock. "Well, I should probably get going now. I'll have to brush up on my makeup skills if I'm going to make you gorgeous enough to seduce your Adrien. So I'll meet you here at 10 tomorrow?"

Marinette blushed. "He's not my Adrien! And I'm not going to seduce him."

"Mhm. Sure. Why else would I push you to go if it weren't for Adrien?" Alya rolled her eyes. "Think about it! It'll be like a ball – You're the princess and he's prince charming! He realizes his love for you at the ball and then you two live happily ever after. The end."

"Alya, life isn't a fairy tail!" Marinette exclaimed exasperatedly. "And he doesn't love me!"

"Yes he does. He just doesn't know it yet. Make sure to not lose your invitation. You know how absent-minded you can get," Alya said jokingly as she stood up and brushed off her jeans. "It would suck if you lost yours. Keep it safe, alright? I'm not asking Adrien for another one for you."

"I'm not _that_ bad at keeping things!"

"You are with anything even remotely related to Adrien." Alya rolled her eyes. "But seriously, keep it here until Friday, okay? Try not to drool over it too much."

Marinette blushed. "I won't!"

"Mmm. Sure you won't. But yeah, I'm gonna go now. Bye, Marinette!"

"Bye, Alya."

As the door closed to her room, Marinette's smile faded and she sighed. She looked down at her sketch and frowned. She had said that it wouldn't be a problem, but she wouldn't get anywhere if she didn't have an idea to start with.

A black ball gown? Combined with white? With a touch of purple? Just black would have been fine but the purple was a bit much. She pulled out a different sketchbook, one that she had dedicated solely to designing dresses. It was worn in many ways with the edges of the pages starting to curl. Long gone were the pristine white pages. Instead, many pieces of paper jutted out from the pages, along with various sticky notes.

"That looks nice," Tikki said, hovering just over Marinette's right shoulder. She pointed to one of the sketches, causing Marinette to pause in her flipping frenzy. It was a picture of a simple sleeveless silky gray dress which gathered at the left hip in a small rose, revealing an underlayer of black.

"Yeah, but I don't know how the colors would play out," Marinette said with a frown. "No matter how I combine them, either the black or the white would be too much to look nice."

"Then how about you use this design for yourself? See, just replace the gray with dark red and keep the black and it'll look really nice!" Tikki said cheerfully, pointing at the sketch. "I think it'd be cute if you added a cape...Or something that trails from the back."

Marinette shook her head. "I was thinking of a color to match my hair with. Maybe if I do blue instead of red…"

"If you say so, Marinette…" Tikki shrugged as Marinette bookmarked the page before continuing to flip through the book. "Oh! That one looks nice! Alya would like this one."

Marinette agreed. It was one of her more flashier designs, one that Marinette herself wouldn't wear but fit Alya perfectly. The sleeveless dress was a royal blue, with a satin top that made up the top half before gathering at the hip and cascading downwards. Underneath was a blue of the same shade but unlike the top, it lacked luster which gives it a more modest yet elegant look. Chains of white roses bloomed across the bodice and downward, below the waist.

"This is perfect, Tikki! I'll replace the blue with black, which would probably bring out the contrast of fabric anyways. Then I'll add a purple center to the larger flowers but keep the white in the petals…" Marinette trailed off as she began furiously scribbling down the changes next to the dress, adding onto the page that was already crowded with older notes on the finer details of the dress' design.

"And done! I'll just send this to Alya to see what she thinks of it. Thanks, Tikki!" Marinette said happily, pulling out her phone and swiftly taking a picture before sending it.

"No problem, Marinette. I didn't really do anything, these are all your sketches, after all," Tikki replied.

"Ah, speaking of Alya, I should really put this invitation away before I lose it. I feel like Alya jinxed me," Marinette said pulling a face. She quickly grabbed her backpack and pulled out the invitation.

It was an elegant cream colored envelope, sealed with a wax seal bearing the simple letter 'A' in one of the most complicated scripts she had ever seen. The paper itself was a heavier material than what Marinette was normally used to and when held to the light, it just barely shimmered as if microscopic pieces of glitter were embedded into the material. In cursive written with gold ink on the front side were the simple words, "You're Invited."

"Well, it certainly looks fancy. I almost feel unworthy of holding this," Marinette muttered. She pulled open her top desk drawer and gently placed the envelope among the various tools and pencils. Satisfied, she closed the drawer.

"There. Now it'll be safe from me," Marinette said confidently. "Until the ball, at least."

"That's great, Marinette. Let's go out to buy the materials now before the sun sets," reminded Tikki.

"Ah, that's right! I almost forgot! Let's go, Tikki!" Marinette scooped up the kwami in her hand and grabbed her faithful, pink bag. "If I go get it now, I can have time to work on the dresses tonight!"

"And you'll have them done by Friday with time to spare," added Tikki. "And who knows, you might even win the contest! What's the prize, by the way?"

"I don't know, Tikki, I never asked," admitted Marinette. Truth be told, it had completely slipped her mind to ask, or even how the dresses would have been judged. She'd almost forgotten that it was even a contest.

"Well, it's fine, Marinette. As long as you have fun, I'll be happy."

"Thanks, Tikki. I appreciate it." Marinette smiled and nuzzled the small kwami against her cheek. "Alright, let's go! To the fabric store!"

"The fabric store!" Tikki cheered before slipping into her bag.

 **Author's Note:**

 **I'm experimenting with shorter chapters in this story (which is why the chapters may seem short) because chapters of twice this length in my other stories tend to have fewer readers so either 1) I'm bad at writing long chapters or 2) People like shorter chapters**

 **So, welp, here ya go. Updates will be faster, though~**

 **Reviews make me smile :)**

 **FicsFromAnAnbuNin** **-** **Thank you! Haha, I would do that but I'd feel really guilty so I may just try to finish this as fast as I can**

 **yellow 14** **\- It did make me smile; it was the first thing I read when I woke up this morning :) Thank you~**

 **Ern Estine 13624** **\- Thank you! I'll try to update this as often as I can~**

 **Poisonberryismahname** **\- Here ya go :3**

 **MysNis1206** **\- Thanks~ It was actually an idea I've been playing around with inspired by another fanfic I very faintly remember reading inspired by Cinderella. I wish I remembered that other fanfic… I'll keep writing!**

 **Guest** **\- Thank you~**

 **Luiz4200** **\- Thank you~ Haha, I thought of that but I don't think that Marinett** **e would be worried enough about anyone taking it from her room to lock it up .**


	3. Chapter 3

"Remember, breath and speak! I better not catch you passing up a single chance to speak to Adrien! Otherwise, I'll tickle you silly," Alya wagged her finger at Marinette threateningly, one hand on her hip. Marinette giggled and pushed Alya's hand aside.

It was finally Friday. Well, to be precise, it was Friday morning. The two had just arrived at school, both sitting in their seats as the rest of their classmates slowly trickled in. Neither Adrien nor Nino had arrived yet, leaving Alya free to talk away.

"I'm serious! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! You _know_ I won't let you live it down if you mess this up," Alya warned. "I spent a small fortune on makeup and everything too; you remember how to use them, right?"

"Alya, I told you that you didn't have to buy me the expensive brands," Marinette said exasperatedly. "And with all that practice, how could I forget how to apply it? You were stricter than any PE teachers I've ever had in my life!"

It was true. Every day after school, it became routine for Alya to follow Marinette home, a large bag of makeup in her arms which was stashed away in the school locker during the day. Alya had insisted on teaching Marinette on how to _perfectly_ apply makeup herself, something about, "A skill that will be useful in the future."

Personally, Marinette thought it would be much easier for them to simply get ready together with Marinette helping to put on the dresses and Alya fixing up their hair and makeup afterward. But Alya had rejected the idea, saying something about how it was a perfect makeup learning opportunity. "You gotta know how to seduce Adrien without my help!" she had exclaimed.

"It was the least I could do, especially with the dress you made for me! Did you even sleep this past week?"

"Of course. They really weren't that hard to make. I think learning how to apply makeup was the hardest part of all of this," Marinette said truthfully.

Alya snorted. "Only you would say dresses aren't hard to make."

"Well, anyone can make _trash_ ," came a snippy remark. Chloe turned her nose up as she passed the pair, a sneer on her face as she took her seat.

"What, like the clothes that you wear?" Alya retorted. Chloe flushed.

" _Excuse_ you. These are all designer brands. But I guess their quality is lost on you."

"Oh yeah? Where's Sabrina anyways? Did your lapdog get tired of serving you?" Alya smirked at the blond girl.

To both Marinette and Alya's surprise, however, Chloe smirked right back. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Ugh, nevermind. You're twice as insufferable alone somehow." Alya turned in annoyance, just in time to see Nino and Adrien walking into the classroom together. Immediately, her eyes lit up as Marinette automatically blushed. "Nino! Adrien! Y'all ready for tonight?"

Nino grinned. "You bet I am. You girls ready?"

"No—"

" _Yes_ ," Alya interrupted Marinette, giving the girl a playful glare. "Of course we are! 9 PM sharp, right?"

Adrien nodded. "We close the doors at 9:30 sharp so don't be late."

"Not that I'd worry about you two being late," Nino said with a grin. "They'll probably even show up _early_."

Alya laughed but deep down both she and Marinette knew that it was true.

* * *

Sabrina took a deep breath and looked around, weary of seeing anyone who would recognize her. Glancing down at her phone, she triple checked the address. She didn't need to of course; nearly everyone in class knew that Marinette's family ran this bakery. Plus, she herself had been to the bakery multiple times in the past. And yet, she hesitated.

It wasn't like this is the first time she did something similar to this for Chloe. Heck, she usually ran these "errands" for Chloe at least once a week, if not more. And this isn't even nearly as bad as some of the things Chloe had made her do in the past (perhaps the one of the worst was breaking into one of Adrien's fans' house and dumping a box of live cockroaches into the poor girl's bed. Now _that_ she really felt bad about) but yet, something made her hesitate this time.

Unlike other girls, Marinette was someone who Sabrina knew and saw nearly every day. She was someone who Sabrina had even called a friend at one point. It felt wrong taking tonight away from her…

Shaking her head, Sabrina gave her cheeks a light slap with both hands.

No, that was in the past. Chloe is her friend now. She didn't need anyone else.

Putting on her usual smile, she marched inside without a second thought.

"Welcome!" A short Asian woman looked up from the counter, a smile already on her face. Sabrina recognized her as Marinette's mother, a woman who she had seen a couple times before. She smiled back, the scent of pastries filling her nostrils.

"Hello! Ms. Cheng, is it?" Sabrina tilted her head to one side, a careful smile on her face. "I'm Sabrina, one of Marinette's friends."

"One of Marinette's friends?" Sabine asked curiously. Then she frowned. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

Sabrina grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of her head with one hand. "I'm running late… Since I was running late already and I live close by, Marinette asked me to pick up a binder that she had left at home. Is that okay?"

The woman's frown deepened. "Honestly, that girl… She can be so forgetful sometimes. Come on in, I'll show you where her room is." She turned and gestured for the girl to follow her to the back where a small set of stairs hidden behind a wall was.

"Here we go. Watch your head, the ceiling's low here," Sabine warned as she started up the stairs, Sabrina walking behind her. "Marinette's room is on the fourth floor; we're on the second now. Would you like some pastries to take back to school?"

"No thank you," Sabrina declined politely. Once again, she felt a small pang of guilt, but she quickly pushed it aside. For Chloe.

"Oh, but I'm sure you haven't had breakfast yet if you're running late," Sabine looked back over her shoulder, a concerned look on her face. They ascended to the third floor.

Sabrina shook her head, her smile still in place. "It's okay. I ate on the way here; Ms. Bustier is only doing a review today and I'm already acing the class."

Sabine laughed. "Ah, I wish Marinette was more like you. You know, when I was young—and don't tell Marinette this—I skipped a few classes now and then. It's how I met her father, you know."

At that, Sabrina paused, curiosity on her face. "You did?"

"Oh yes. He was skipping class too, you see. We went to different schools but there we were, the same place at the same time." Sabine smiled fondly at the memory. "I thought he was going to mug me; he's a big guy and we bumped into each other in an alleyway. But he's such a teddy bear on the inside...Oh, here we are."

Sabine stopped at the foot of a ladder which led to a trapdoor. She nodded to the trapdoor. "This is Marinette's room here; you'll have to climb up. She got the attic you see, but it really has a lovely view from the balcony. If you need me, I'll be downstairs in the bakery."

Sabrina smiled at the woman as she reached for the ladder. "Thank you, Ms. Cheng."

"Anytime, my dear."

Marinette's room was everything Sabrina expected it to be...plus a few dozen pictures of Adrien.

"A little obsessive," Sabrina muttered, gingerly stepping up into the room. As she did a quick scan of the room, she let off a quiet gasp.

Off to the side of the room, among a neat pile of fabric and paper, was a gorgeous sleeveless silk midnight blue and black dress. A single elegant rose at the hip separated the blue like a curtain, revealing the black underneath. Upon closer inspection, beautiful embroidery of roses lined the edges in a lighter shade of blue. The same design, but bigger, lined the bottom of the dress in black embroidery floss. Taped to the collar of the mannequin that wore the dress was the invitation.

Sabrina bit her lip, the weight of what she was about to do suddenly felt heavier. So she did what she always did when she was unsure.

She pulled out her phone, took a picture, and sent it to Chloe.

Not a minute passed before she received a response.

 _Destroy it all._

Her heart sank. Sabrina swallowed dryly. It really was a beautiful dress. From the corner of her eyes, she spotted a pair of scissors, probably the same one used to work on the dress. Her phone vibrated again.

 _Send me a picture afterward so I know that it's completely destroyed—I don't want her somehow fixing it._

With a heavy heart, Sabrina picked up the scissors.

* * *

"Oh, did you find the binder?" Sabine looked up from her tray of freshly baked croissants, a smile on her face.

Sabrina swallowed. She had forgotten about that. But luckily, years of doing these kinds of errands hid her mistake.

"I couldn't find it but Marinette said that it was fine since she probably left it in her locker," she lied easily, almost as if it was second nature. She polite smile never wavered.

Sabine tutted disapprovingly. "Honestly, what am I going to do with that girl… I'll have to have a word with her when she gets home today. Anyways, I suppose you'll be off now?"

"Yes, Ms. Cheng." Sabrina nodded. She headed for the door.

"Ah, wait!" Sabine hurriedly put down her tray and reached for something that Sabrina hadn't noticed before—a small white paper box. The bakery's name was printed on the side in a curvy black font. Sabine held it out to the girl with a smile.

"Here, take this free of charge. You teenagers need to eat more nowadays; too many of you are starting to neglect your health."

Sabrina stared at the box.

"Ms. Cheng, I couldn't, I already bothered you so much and…"

"It was no bother at all! Marinette's friends are welcome here anytime. Feel free to share it with others during lunch," Sabine insisted, still holding out the box. Slowly, Sabrina took it.

"Thank you, Ms. Cheng." The box couldn't have weighed more than a few pounds. But to Sabrina, it hung heavily in her hands as she gripped the paper handles tightly. She forced herself to loosen her grip to avoid damaging the box.

"Call me Sabine," Sabine smiled. "Now run along before you miss the whole day."

Sabrina nodded. And with one last smile, she left.

* * *

Marinette didn't think much of the familiar white box Sabrina carried during lunch. Looking back on it, there really were a lot of red flags. Sabrina being absent in the morning and arriving in time for lunch with a box of pastries from none other than Marinette's family's business. Chloe's confident smirk. But to be fair, the bakery was fairly popular among locals and it wasn't unheard of for students to bring in lunch from that particular bakery.

So when she arrived back home after school, having parted ways with Alya to prepare for the night, Marinette was surprised to see her mother give her a stern expression rather than the usual greeting.

"Marinette, you need to be less forgetful."

Marinette groaned. Great. One step through the door and already a lecture. She didn't need this on today of all days—It was the day of the ball! "I know mom, I'm working on it."

"I know you have friends to help you but you need to stop relying on—"

"I know, mom," Marinette interrupted, exasperated. She didn't even know what suddenly brought this up; she hadn't forgotten anything important recently (well, nothing that her mom would know about anyway) unless her mom found out about her leaving a batch of cookies in a few minutes too long the other day but that was hardly a reason for a lecture. Well, maybe.

Sabine sighed. "Just please be more careful in the future, Marinette."

"I know, I know. I will," Marinette promised. She danced lightly on her toes, itching to escape to her room. Plus, Tikki was sure to be hungry by now.

Sabine pursed her lips but dropped the subject, much to Marinette's relief.

She kissed her mom on the cheek before grabbing a cookie from a bakery shelf as she made her way to the actual house part of the building. Upstairs, her father sat rigidly on the sofa in front of the television which showed a live soccer game.

"Hi dad, I'm home," Marinette said with a smile.

Her father grunted a response, too focused on the game to say much else. He didn't need to; Marinette was halfway up the stairs by the time he heard her.

With a bright smile, Marinette opened the trapdoor that led to her room, eager to prepare for the ball.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Sorry for the late update! I just put another story on hold to focus more on my Miraculous stories...**

 **I should mention that everything I write is unedited or read over. So...let me know if something sounds really weird or if there was a mistake.**

 **Reviews make me smile :)**

 **Thank you to** **Rose Tiger,** **Silver712, Luiz4200** **,** **Twilight Waters, and yellow 14 for reviewing!**


	4. Chapter 4

***POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT***

 **Reference to episode seventeen ("Animan") in this chapter. You have been warned.**

* * *

Alya had just settled into her bubble bath when her phone went off.

Thinking nothing of it (as a blogger, notifications were something that constantly followed her), Alya simply sighed and settled further into the hot waters. If she was going to the ball, she'd need all the pampering she could get.

Her phone beeped again.

And again.

And again.

When it started alerting her of a call, Alya finally groaned and reached over for her phone laying on her towel.

She frowned. Marinette?

She picked up.

"Hullo?"

"A-Alya?" Marinette hiccupped, her voice hoarse and barely audible.

Instantly straightening up, Alya held the phone closer to her ear. "Marinette? What's wrong?"

Marinette took a shaky breath. "I-I can't go t-tonight."

"What? Why not?" Alya's mind furiously ran through the list of possible reasons. Parents? No, they had gotten permission. Did she lose her invitation? That wouldn't happen; Alya was sure she kept it taped above the dress when it was finally done.

"S-Someone came into my room," Marinette choked out. She began crying again.

"What?! Your mom? What happened?!"

Marinette continued to cry. Alya's phone beeped again.

Switching onto speaker, she quickly unlocked her phone. Four new messages from Marinette. One new picture.

 _Alya I cant go_

 _Icanticant_

 _please answer_

 _Itsrunined_

Alya heart sank. On the phone, Marinette continued to sob.

 _Picture Attachment. 4.7MB [Download Now]_

With a feeling of dread, Alya pressed download. Within seconds, the picture loaded.

Alya gasped. "Oh, Marinette…"

It was a picture of the Marinette's dress. Or, at least, what remained of it. What was once a gorgeous ballgown that Alya had watched Marinette bring to life was now an almost unrecognizable tattered piece of fabric. Cuts tore up almost every inch of the dress and ran along the embroidery that Marinette had painstakingly worked on for almost every day after school. Most of the cuts were so severe that half of the fabric had fallen off of the mannequin. To add insult to the injury, the very invitation, or what looked like it, that Alya had taped to the collar of the mannequin was scattered pieces at the foot of the dress.

"It was l-like this when I came home," Marinette whimpered. "I can't make another one in time, Alya, I can't!"

"Shh, okay, breath. Deep breaths. We can fix this," Alya said soothingly, standing up from her bath. She wrapped her towel around herself. "I'm coming over right now, okay? Just stay there."

"I-I'm fine."

"No, you're not." Alya shifted her phone to her other ear as she started dressing. "Do you want to wear my dress? I don't need to go; you're the one who worked hard on this. Take my invitation."

"Alya, _no_. I can't."

"Yes you can," Alya argued.

"Your dress doesn't fit me, Alya," Marinette protested. She sniffled.

"I'm sure you can adjust the size."

"I-It's not as easy as that…"

Alya frowned and paused. "Marinette. Why are you so against me helping you?"

Silence. From the other end of the phone, Alya heard more sniffles.

Alya sighed. "You _do_ want to go to the ball, right?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Then what's the problem?"

"I know you want to go to the ball just as much as I do," Marinette said glumly.

Alya froze.

"Because Nino will be there," Marinette continued. Her voice was steadier now, albeit quieter. "I worked really hard on your dress because you wanted to look nice for him, right?"

Alya pinched the bridge of her nose. Leave it to Marinette to worry about other people's chances rather than her own. She wasn't obvious about her feelings, that she was sure of. But of course Marinette would notice. She always did.

"Mari, I have a better chance with Nino than you do with Adrien on any given day." It was the truth. Or at least that's what Alya always told herself. To be honest, she always wondered if she ever really had a chance with Nino. Yes, Nino had "confessed" about liking her but it was out of panic at the time while avoiding Marinette's question of who he liked. Thinking back on it, it was probably that same day that Alya had started having feelings for Nino. Before that, she had only seen him as a friend.

Marinette drew a small shaky breath. "Alya, that dress was made for you to wear to the ball. I'll be fine."

"No, you won't—"

"Alya, you know that I won't be fine at the ball by myself," Marinette interrupted. "If you don't go, Nino will be disappointed as well."

"I don't _care_ if Nino is disappointed, Marinette. He's not my best friend; _you_ are," Alya said forcefully. Hearing no response from Marinette, she sighed. "I'm going to ask the guys for an extra invitation, okay? And I'm sure Adrien can rustle up some ballgown you can wear from one of his designer friends. I'll call you back when I have some news."

"...Okay." Marinette's voice was unconvinced. She sounded so...tired. All that work wasted. All of those hours after school and on the weekend...Alya scowled.

"Marinette, who did that to your dress?"

"Huh?"

"Your dress. Who did it?"

Marinette was silent.

"...I don't know."

" _You don't know?_ "

Alya heard Marinette sigh tiredly. "The first thing I did was call you."

"Well, go ask around, alright? Ask your parents. I'm pretty sure the culprit didn't jump through your window. Unless Ladybug saw your dress and had a jealous fit."

To her relief, Alya heard a dry chuckle from the line.

"I doubt it."

Alya smiled. "See? Go ask your parents. I'm going to talk to Nino and Adrien for help. I'll text you soon, okay?"

"Okay."

"Bye, Mari."

"Bye, Alya." A pause. "Thank you."

Alya smiled before hanging up. She put her phone down and cracked her knuckles as she looked down at the screen.

"Alright, time to hit up Nino."

* * *

Marinette set down her phone. Tikki, who had been sitting on her shoulder the whole time nuzzled against the girl's cheek in comfort.

"It'll be okay, Marinette, you'll see," Tikki said encouragingly. "Alya will get ahold of Adrien and you'll have a new invitation and a dress in no time."

Marinette blew her nose. "It won't be the same, Tikki. It won't be _my_ dress."

"I know. But at least you'll get to see Adrien, right?"

"I guess…"

"It'll still be fun!" Tikki said cheerfully. "Meanwhile, you can ask your parents if anyone came in here, okay?"

Marinette sniffled and wiped her eyes. "I don't need to. It was Chloe."

Tikki frowned. "But the dress was fine this morning when we left."

"And? It has to be Chloe, only she's evil enough to do something like this," Marinette said sullenly. "Who else could it be?"

"Marinette, Chloe was in class the whole day with you, remember?" Tikki reminded gently. "She couldn't have done it."

"Then…" Marinette frowned as she struggled to recall the morning.

 _"Oh yeah? Where's Sabrina anyways? Did your lapdog get tired of serving you?" Alya smirked at the blond girl._

 _To both Marinette and Alya's surprise, however, Chloe smirked right back. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms. "Wouldn't you like to know."_

Marinette's eyes widened. "Sabrina," She breathed out.

"Are you sure?" Tikki asked.

"She wasn't at class this morning," Marinette quickly explained, her brows furrowed. Now that she had someone to blame, it was easy to forget her misery in place of anger. "She came back at lunch with food from the bakery!"

"That isn't enough to blame someone, Marinette," Tikki tried to reason. "Why don't you talk to her and—"

"She tore up my dress, Tikki! How can you take her side in this?!"

Tikki flinched. Seeing this, Marinette sighed.

"I'm sorry. I'm just angry."

"Being angry won't fix your dress," Tikki said softly. The kwami wiped away a stray tear from the girl's cheek.

"I know."

The two sat in silence for a few seconds when Marinette's phone beeped, notifying her of a new message from Alya.

 _Okay, don't panic...but we can't reach Adrien. Nino said that Chloe dragged him to who-knows-where for who-knows-how-long as soon as school ended. We must have missed it since we were hurrying home. He's not picking up his phone either…_

Marinette's heart sank. Tikki gently squeezed Marinette's shoulder.

 _Nino went to his house but Natalie said that she didn't know where Chloe took him, only that they'll be back before nine… And according to Natalie...they're not giving out more invites at this time_

She wanted to cry. Before nine?! Knowing Chloe, she'd keep him out as long as possible, away from his phone. No invitation, no dress… It was almost like the universe itself damned her. Or Chloe did.

Before she could cry, however, a knock came at her door.

"Marinette? Your friend's here!" Her mom's voice called through the door.

Marinette and Tikki glanced at each other before the kwami flew into her pink pouch.

"Coming!" Marinette called out, scrambling to her feet with a frown. She cursed under her breath. Leave it to Alya to not listen.

Running downstairs, Marinette took the steps down two at a time partly so her mom couldn't get a good look at her face as she passed and partly because after that rollercoaster of emotions, she needed _something_ to work off all that energy.

She nearly ran into her dad as she rounded the corner of the bakery floor.

"Whoa, what's the rush?" her dad laughed, holding her shoulder to steady her.

"Ah, sorry!" Marinette squeaked, momentarily dazed. She hadn't expected her dad to be there; usually, he was behind the counter.

"No need to run; Sabrina just left," her dad chuckled. Marinette froze.

"Sabrina?" Marinette spoke slowly, not truly believing her ears.

"Yes, yes. Nice girl." He held out a familiar white box to Marinette. It was the bakery's take-out box. "She told me to give you this. I don't know why she's returning the box, though. I was just about to head upstairs to give it to you."

Confused, Marinette took the box. It was lighter than how it usually felt, full with pastries. In fact, it nearly felt empty.

Her father turned with a smile, already on his way back to the cash register. Still confused, Marinette opened the box. Her breath caught in her throat.

Sitting in the middle of the white box was nothing other than an invitation. A beautiful, untorn, invitation. The golden words of "You're Invited." gleamed up at her.

Scarcely able to believe it, she turned over the envelope. The untouched red wax seal looked back at her. As she turned it over, Marinette noticed a small piece of folded paper underneath the envelope. Setting down the invitation in the box again, she unfolded the paper.

Written in black pen were two simple words, partly blurred by teardrops long dried.

 _I'm sorry._

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **This chapter was meant to be longer and not as rushed but I have a sociology midterm exam and a speech to give tomorrow so… ^^;**

 **Just a heads up, this story may be delayed for a bit so I can focus on finishing my other miraculous fic Ceramics Class by April Fools (sorry)**

 **Reviews make me smile :)**

 **Thank you to** **ctebalan** **, Lokilust, Rose Tiger, missdragongirl, yellow 14,** **Ern Estine 13624, Guest, Luiz4200, and mayuralover for reviewing! :D**


	5. Important Announcement

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:**

 **So...there is something you guys need to know...**

 **I figured this announcement needs to be made, considering the Western tradition associated with today.**

 **I am the kind of writer who can't stand having someone who I actually know read my work. Half of my stories on this site is completely or partly inspired by my boyfriend. This same boyfriend had also just discovered this account. Basically, I am discontinuing all of my stories. This account will also be deleted within a day. I'm disappointed too because of today, the first of April, is also our 2nd anniversary together so it's kind of ironic that I'm deleting all the stories inspired by him today.**

 **Don't worry; I'll be yelling at him in person for you guys in about 10 hours when I see him. I have a friend who offered to continue this story where I'm leaving off and I'll be putting their account where the rest of the story will be continued in the next and (my) final chapter.**

 **Sorry.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Oh my lord , it's April Fool's today… It's 7AM on a Saturday and I literally had to start writing cause y'all made me feel bad**

 **For those who are unaware, April Fool's is a Western tradition of telling lies/jokes/pranks on the first of April.**

* * *

Marinette sniffled as she wiped away her tears. She was in her room. She held the invitation by its edges with her fingertips, careful to not actually touch it too much yet touching it just enough to assure herself it was real. The cruelest joke would be finding out that this invitation wasn't real. But then again, she wasn't sure if given a real invitation wasn't cruel either.

She didn't feel worthy of holding it.

Tikki sat on her lap as she looked up at the girl in concern. The kwami tilted its head slightly in puzzlement.

"What's wrong, Marinette? Why are you sad? You have an invitation now, isn't that good?"

"Tikki, I still can't go," Marinette said sullenly. Her voice was tired, much more tired than usual. Tikki had never heard her sound so...dead. Frustrated or panicked at times, yes, but even that was more lively than what she sounded like now.

"Why not?" Tikki asked, frowning.

"I don't have a dress."

"A dress?"

Marinette lifted her gaze from her invitation to her torn dress. It remained untouched after its discovery on the mannequin which wore it. The dress, if it could still be called that, hung limply on the model.

Tikki followed her gaze towards the dress before turning back to look at Marinette in innocent confusion.

"Why can't you just make another one, Marinette?"

"Another dress? The ball is in a few hours, Tikki!" Marinette said in despair. "Even I can't make a decent dress in that short notice! I need fabric, materials, ribbon…"

"Do _you_ have to make it?"

"It has to be of my design, Tikki. I don't want to wear someone else's dress...It's not me." Marinette dropped the invitation onto her lap. She clenched her fists. "Wearing someone else's design...I can't do that."

"Then wear your design," Tikki suggested.

Marinette sighed. "There's not enough time; I don't have another dress that's a ballgown. Even if I did have the materials, I don't have _time_."

"But Marinette," Tikki protested.

"I can't, Tikki. I'll return the invitation. I can talk to Sabrina on Monday."

" _Marinette_ ," Tikki said sternly. She was frowning, an expression that was unusual on the kwami. "I'm a kwami."

"I…" Marinette was frowning now as well. "I know."

"Do you know what are kwamis, exactly?" Tikki asked patiently.

"Er...fairies. Why?"

"Yes. And what do fairies usually have?"

"Magic?"

Tikki looked expectantly at Marinette whose frown slowly changed to hope. For the first time since finding her dress in ruins, a spark came back into her eyes.

"Can you fix my dress?" she asked, scarcely daring to believe it. She picked up the invitation from her lap, careful to not crush it in excitement. The kwami smiled.

"Well, yes...But…"

Marinette's heart sank. "But?"

"What I can do is change it. It'll be similar to your usual transformation to Ladybug, but instead of transforming into your suit, it'll be a dress," Tikki explained. "There's only one problem. I can't remove the mask from the transformation, Marinette."

"So, what you're saying is…"

"Marinette cannot go to the ball. But Ladybug can."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **I...apologize. As an administrator of a fairly large Facebook page with the same target audience age as my stories here, I had posted a post with a very similar message (with adjusted reasons in the post, of course) and it had received many laughs from fans. I had not taken into account that readers get attached to stories. Initially, I had woken up a few hours after posting the "Announcement" and began typing up a new chapter to say it was a joke. But then more reviews started coming in and they just got worse and worse and I just couldn't take my mind off it even when my boyfriend came to celebrate our anniversary...I wasn't kidding when I mentioned that I read reviews as soon as I get them...I'm sorry. Today was supposed to be fun. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.**

 **I'm sorry.**

 **I'm sorry.**

 **Please forgive me.**


	7. Chapter 6

"I-I don't understand."

"Well…" Tikki tilted her head thoughtfully. "Kwamis can control transformations, kinda. We usually only change the suits every time we get a new partner depending on the time period and culture. The only thing is, it's really hard keeping up a different transformation for someone we've been partnered with for a while so I can't keep you transformed for too long; you'll change back eventually even if you don't use your power."

"You can change my suit?" Marinette asked incredulously.

"Yes, but after a few transformations, a specific appearance of Ladybug gets associated with a person," Tikki explained patiently. "It's kind of like a really, really hard habit to break. It's easy to make a new appearance on a new partner because they're like blank slates, but suddenly changing it for an existing partner is hard. The best I can keep you transformed in a different appearance is for a few hours at most."

"I thought that every Ladybug wore the same suit…" Marinette frowned. It had never actually really occurred to her that past Ladybugs looked any different than her. Sure, they may have been different people so therefore had different hair, eyes, or skin color perhaps, but she thought that other than that, the appearance of "Ladybug" was uniform.

Tikki shook her head. "It varies with each person. The only thing that stays the same is the mask. One of the things that I cannot change is the mask. Once, I was partnered with a girl from Japan who wore something like a ninja outfit. Generally, we keep it simple so remaking your dress will be kinda hard."

"So it'll be like I'm wearing my dress...but as Ladybug."

"Yep," Tikki confirmed with a nod. "Even if Marinette cannot go, Ladybug can at least."

"I don't know, Tikki…" Marinette trailed off uncertainly. She had wanted to go as herself, not as someone she wasn't. This ball was one of the rare chances that she could show off what _Marinette_ could do, not Ladybug. It was a chance to prove herself, and now it was gone.

Tikki sighed impatiently. As gentle in nature as a kwami she was, even she was getting tired of Marinette getting in her own way sometimes.

"Marinette, let me help you," Tikki tried, her voice coaxing. "Think of me as your fairy godmother."

At this, Marinette couldn't help but let out a small smile. "My fairy godmother?"

Tikki shrugged. "I overheard it once during your class on fairy tales. But Marinette, why wouldn't you want to go as Ladybug?"

"For one, I'll attract too much attention, Tikki."

Tikki pouted.

"And besides...there isn't any point in going if I'm not going as Marinette," she continued. Marinette smiled grimly at the kwami. "The main reason for going was to, as Alya put it, 'flirt with the hottie' who Alya will apparently make my boyfriend or die trying, remember?"

"Marinette," Tikki huffed. "Haven't you been excited about going all week?"

"Well, yes…"

"Then why should you let your decision of going be affected by whether a boy will notice you or not? Why are you letting your life revolve around a boy? Your happiness shouldn't have to depend on anyone else," Tikki scolded. "I know that you're better than that; the question is, do you?"

Marinette hesitated. It was true; she _had_ been excited about the ball and not just for Adrien alone (admittedly, however, that was a huge plus). She knew what the Agreste mansion looked like and it would look gorgeous for a ball given the right interior decorating. If the quality of the invitation hinted at anything at all, it was that the ball would be beautiful and perhaps one of the fanciest events Marinette would ever get the chance to go to. On top of all of that, it was a _fashion_ contest. She'll be able to meet and see the work of fashion designers from across Paris—no—across _Europe_. Maybe even the world, given how famous the Agreste name is in the fashion industry.

Tikki, seeing the change in Marinette's eyes, smiled brightly. All that was needed was one more push.

"You'll be able to cheer Alya up too," Tikki added. "She'll be sad that Marinette couldn't go, but seeing Ladybug there will definitely cheer her up. Don't you want to make her happy?"

Yes, it was manipulation to a certain extent. That was a skill that everyone picks up given long enough, kwami or not, and Tikki has lived a very, very long time. Any guilt that the kwami felt was soon chased away by the resolution in Marinette's eyes. The girl scooped up her kwami in both hands.

"Alright, Tikki. I'll go as Ladybug."

* * *

"Chloe, for the last time, we should really be getting back," Adrien tried once more. He was on the verge of giving up on asking the girl about returning so he could get ready for the ball; she'd refused to listen every single time so far.

"It'll be _fine_ ," Chloe assured him, her voice high and sugary sweet as she clutched onto the boy's arm. Her perfectly manicured nails dug just barely into his arm. "I said I'll get you back home before nine, didn't I?"

"But," Adrien shifted his weight as they walked, bags from various designer stores clutched in his hand. "I left my phone in the car. At least let me go back and get it—"

"There's no time," Chloe interrupted firmly. Her grip on his arm tightened by just the slightest. "If something is wrong, your dad would contact me. You don't have to worry about _anything_ , Adrikins. Where do you want to go next?"

"I want to go home," Adrien sighed, but he knew that it was a lost battle. He knew from years of experience that what Chloe wanted, Chloe got. Given their different personalities, it was a wonder that they had gotten along at all as children.

Chloe ignored his comment. Instead, her eyes lit up as she spotted a building through the crowds of Paris.

"Look, Adrikins! A movie theater! Let's go there!" Chloe exclaimed, already dragging the model through the crowd, none too gently. A few people gave the pair a dirty look as she shoved past them, annoyed of having their last minute dinner shopping interrupted until they recognized them. As the daughter the Paris, Chloe wasn't an unknown face. Adrien was even more well-known with his face plastered on many advertisements across Paris.

"A movie?" Adrien asked in disbelief. "Chloe, we don't have time—"

"Of course we do," Chloe interrupted again, her smile still plastered onto her face. "What do you want to watch? I heard that _Twenty Shades of Pink_ is, like, really popular right now."

"Chloe—"

Chloe turned to face him, a perfectly practiced pout on her face. "Please, Adrien? You know I don't have many friends…" Her voice was quiet.

Adrien groaned.

"One movie."

"Yay! You're the best!" Chloe hugged his arm, a grin on her face. "Like, the very best!"

"I still want to get my phone first though."

"Your phone? I'm sure nothing important is happening," Chloe dismissed with a flip of her hair. "And after this movie, we can, like, go to my hair appointment! It's like, a short walk from here. And then we'll go over to my place and get ready!"

"But Chloe—"

"Shhh," Chloe held a finger to his lip. "I had your outfit delivered to my house and I already got permission from your dad. Your stylist is already set up at my house too. Everything is planned out."

Adrien started to speak but Chloe simply pressed her finger against his lips once more. With a sigh, Adrien let his protest die unspoken. Chloe smiled.

"Everything is planned out."


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Do not attempt leaving a building the same way Marinette does.**

* * *

Marinette applied her black eyeliner carefully on her right eyelid, her hands moving with practiced precise strokes.

There was one thing that her transformation couldn't do, Tikki explained, and it was applying makeup. That was entirely left up to Marinette, and if it weren't for the hours spent on practicing how to apply makeup with Alya, she wouldn't have known where to start.

Marinette pursed her lips. It was now past sunset, and a less than an hour before the start of the ball. It had taken the majority of the time before dinner to convince Alya to, well, give up on contacting Adrien and accept that Marinette was truly content with not attending and after more than an hour of reassuring Alya that Marinette would be far more happier to see her friend go have fun, it was Marinette who finally won the argument with saying that Nino would be disappointed. It was simple after that and after many promises from Alya to sing praises of Marinette's fashion designing skills to everyone, Alya had reluctantly resigned.

Then came the matter of telling a slightly revised story to her parents over dinner. She didn't mention the ruined dress (although her mom had commented on what a "nice girl" Sabrina was) or of the newly acquired invitation but simply gave the excuse that she had several exams coming up and wished to stay home and study. Her parents were confused but didn't question it. After dinner was a bath, face mask, home manicure, and other pampering routines that Alya had taught Marinette to do. Finally, it was time for makeup.

"You look pretty, Marinette," Tikki complimented. The kwami was munching on a cookie and sat next to the mirror propped up on the desk. To prepare for the transformation, Tikki had spent her time studying the dress' design while tucking into a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. She was on her fourth cookie now.

"Thank you, Tikki." Marinette gave the kwami a smile before starting on her left eyelid. Eyeliner was always a pain. During practices, if she managed to not stab herself in the eye with the darn thing, the eyeliner would usually come out different on each eyelid.

After a painfully slow twenty minutes of applying the eyeliner to perfection as Tikki watched in curiosity, she carefully applied mascara onto her curled lashes.

"Marinette, I have a question."

"Yes, Tikki?" Marinette replied as she put on lipstick. It was somewhat of a dark red, something she would normally never wear but Alya had pushed her to try it out.

"Are you planning on winning the contest?"

"I…" Marinette frowned thoughtfully. After everything, she'd nearly forgotten it was a contest. "I guess I can't win with this dress. But Alya will be wearing a dress I made so I have a chance. But it's not my goal."

"What's your goal?" Tikki asked. "To meet Adrien?"

"Well, yes."

"As Ladybug?"

Marinette was silent.

"You have to remember that Marinette is not attending the ball. Ladybug is," Tikki reminded. "I know that normally I tell you that you and Ladybug are the same person but you have to be careful unless you want to be found out somehow."

"I know, Tikki," Marinette sighed. "It's just—I don't know. I already worked so hard to go; I can't just not go now. And besides, I'll be careful that no one realizes that I'm Marinette."

Still, Tikki looked uncertain. "I don't know, Marinette. I'm happy that you're going but I just have a bad feeling about this. Promise me that you'll leave the first time the earrings beep, okay? I'll try to hold out as long as I can but you should leave as soon as you can at the first warning."

"I promise."

Tikki smiled. The kwami still felt uneasy but with the girl's promise, a small weight was lifted. Shaking off the remaining uncertainty, she bit into her cookie.

"One more thing, Marinette," Tikki said around a mouthful of cookie. "I have to tweak some parts of your dress."

Marinette, finishing off her makeup with a spritz of setting spray (another thing that she hadn't even heard of before Alya introduced it) to keep her makeup flawless for the next few hours, looked at the kwami worriedly. "What do you mean?"

"The color scheme of Ladybug's transformation is something I can't change," Tikki explained. "The most I can do is hide the spots. But your dress will have to be red and black."

"Red and black?" Marinette frowned and peered at the dress design that sat in front of Tikki. "How would that work?"

"Well, your dress was going to be blue and black. I was thinking of just replacing the blue with red," Tikki said thoughtfully. "Everything else can be the same. What do you think of adding a cape?"

Marinette chuckled. "What's with you and capes?"

"I grew fond of them after one of the previous Ladybugs had one," Tikki confessed. "One of my previous partners was an American and was a comic fan. Superheroes were just becoming a very popular idea at the time."

"I see. Well, a cape would look kinda silly, wouldn't it?"

Tikki shook her head. "Not like the kind you tie around your neck. Think of one that is attached to the top border of the back of your dress. I'll keep it a sheer material so that it won't be heavy enough to pull your dress down since it's sleeveless. So..."

"No cape," Marinette said firmly. "I'm clumsy enough as it is around Adrien. I don't want to trip over a cape."

Tikki pouted but didn't pursue the matter. Satisfied that she had won, Marinette headed cleared away the makeup products from her desk and pulled forward her bag of hair products. Having already done most of the hair preparations beforehand, all that was left was to style the hair.

Unlike many girls, Marinette didn't have long hair. Sure, her hair wasn't as short as Rose's but it still wasn't long enough to be curled too much without looking...off. So, taking this into account, Alya had suggested that she went with a hairstyle that Marinette had worn in the past—a bun.

After a few trial runs of the hairstyle, Alya had approvingly called the hairstyle "simple and elegant". Of course, the bun wasn't the usual bun that Marinette had once favored as her go-to hairstyle. Instead of a simple messy bun done in a minute before rushing out of the house, tonight's bun was an elegant one held in place with a mixture of bobby pins and hairspray. She had bought accessories to go along with it but Tikki had assured the girl that she could include accessories into the transformation. Normally it wouldn't have taken Marinette more than a few seconds to make a bun, but this one took her a good few minutes. When she was finally done, Tikki was just brushing off the crumbs of the last cookie.

"We should get going, Marinette. It's almost time," Tikki warned. The kwami pulled the invitation from the pages of the sketchbook where she had stashed it earlier to be sure that it wasn't forgotten.

Marinette nodded. She was already wearing her usual outfit. They'd agreed to transform into Ladybug when they arrived at the ball in order to save energy.

Which meant the hardest part was sneaking out.

Both of Marinette's parents spent the night baking fresh pastries for the next day which meant that sneaking out through the front door would be hard. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem since she was used to sneaking out all the time with her yo-yo as Ladybug. Tonight, however, she wasn't Ladybug yet. She was Marinette, a simple girl with hair that she couldn't afford to mess up.

But she'd be darned if that was going to stop her. Which is why, after scooping up the kwami along with the invitation into her pink purse, she stood perched on the second story ledge.

Luckily, her parents were both busy baking away on the ground floor, leaving the actual living spaces free from any unwelcome intervention. It was dark out and with the bakery in one of the more residential areas, there weren't many people out and about at the time of night. After closing the window from which she came from, the girl carefully sat down on the ledge which was just barely wide enough for her to do so.

Making sure that she hung out of view from the bakery windows downstairs, the girl slowly turned and edged herself off, gripping the ledge with only her hands with the rest of her body hanging.

Ever since taking up the role of Ladybug, there were slight changes to her body, even when she was Marinette. Namely, her physical capabilities. In addition to being more flexible than before, she was a lot stronger than her classmates. And, according to Tikki, was a lot more durable.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette released her hold on the ledge and lightly dropped onto the ground. Durable or not, she still slightly winced at the impact. She'd been sure to not lock her legs but that jump would have surely caused at least some damage to a normal person's foot. But, being Ladybug and all, it was just short of a faint bruise.

She rubbed her fingers absentmindedly as she quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed her escape. Seeing no one, she breathed a sigh of relief before starting a light jog. Almost unconsciously, her right hand went to her hair, just lightly shielding it from the wind.

She needn't have worried; it was a short jog and any danger to her hair was quickly nullified by the hairspray. Adrien's mansion was, fortunately, only a few blocks away from her family's bakery. Within a couple blocks, she was able to make out the back of the mansion where she stopped.

Peering around the corner, Marinette noticed a few people in the distance, closer to the front of the mansion but other than them, there was no one. Ducking out of sight, she opened her bag and Tikki flew out. The two shared one determined smile.

"Tikki, spots on!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **According to a map I've found online, everything is basically placed in the same area in ML so...yeah. That's a thing. Thank you for reading!**

 **Guest #1 - Vengence is on its way! (maybe)**

 **Rose Tiger - Ugh, I know! She was a pain to write .**

 **Ern** Estine **13624 - Same… Thank you for reading!**

 **WildflowerDar - Still better than Lila lol. Thanks for reading!**

 **yellow 14 - Yeah, I wanted to give Tikki a more active role ^^**

 **Luiz4200 - It'll work out...hopefully .**

 **Guest #2 - Thank you! I'm flattered that you like this story; I'll do my best! :)**

 **mayuralover - She's nearly as bad as Lila, isn't she Thank you for reading my stories!**

 **Poksie - Yup**

 **missdragongirl - I'll try my best to make her suffer in the end :) Thank you for reading my stories!**

 **dizzydaisy37 - Ahhh thank you so much! Your review made my day! My boyfriend was really confused on why I was doing happy squeals after checking my phone ^^**


	9. Chapter 8

**Multiple (very, very) subtle references to a certain historical fandom throughout this chapter. Only a few will catch them :)**

* * *

Alya paced impatiently, her arms crossed.

It was a few minutes until nine and the gates were due to open any minute now. Already there was a line formed that stretched a few dozen meters long. The name Agreste was well-known throughout the fashion world and it was a chance of a lifetime for both professionals and amateurs alike. Many of those in line were models jumping at a chance catch their next contract and flaunted their gowns proudly, the actual fashion designers standing nearby as they did last minute checks on their works. Nervously, Alya smoothed down the front of her own gown.

It was wrong. It _felt_ wrong. The fact that Marinette, the one who had designed her dress in the first place, wasn't able to come because of one stuck up good-for-nothing girl infuriated Alya. Even without confirmation from Marinette, she was positive that Chloe was behind it all. It was far too much of a coincidence that the blond girl would whisk Adrien away for hours without contact. In fact, neither she nor she still had heard from the model as of yet.

"Calm down, Alya," Nino said soothingly. Yet, even as he said it, his eyes darted to his phone in his hand. Like her, he was angry about the situation but kept it together for her sake. The last thing they needed was for Alya to make a scene and cause them to get kicked out.

"Calm down?! Nino, we both know that Chloe is behind this! It's so obvious!"

"And we can report her. Or confront her. Or both. But right now you need to breathe. You've been worked up about this non-stop." When Alya didn't reply and continued to pace angrily, Nino finally grabbed a hold of her shoulders to keep her in place.

"Look, all we can do now is wait for Adrien. He's probably inside already and we'll be inside too in a few minutes. Marinette is strong and she'd want you to take a break from all this worrying you're doing for her," Nino said firmly. Alya met his eyes, her frustration still clearly etched onto her face. Then she sighed.

"I know, Nino. It's just—I feel so helpless, you know?"

"We've done all we could. Marinette wants you to have fun tonight. Maybe even win the contest for her."

At this, Alya smiled. "You think it'll win?"

"I'm sure you'll blow us all away," Nino said, relieved that the girl was finally starting to calm down. "You look beautiful tonight."

Alya, despite herself, felt just the faintest of blushes touch her cheek. Glad for the darkness, she turned and crossed her arms once again.

"I'm just praying that he'll realize that he loves her."

* * *

Marinette peered anxiously around the corner. She didn't want to step into view just yet with that long line waiting to get in. From a distance, she recognized Alya near the front of the line along with who she assumed to be Nino. She wasn't completely sure but logically it made sense. The only reason why she could recognize Alya in the first place was because she had worked hard on the girl's dress for so long. That and also because it was one of the few predominantly black dresses.

Marinette absentmindedly rubbed her hands together. Ladybug or not, it was cold now that the sun had set and wearing a sleeveless dress didn't help.

True to her words, Tikki had successfully pulled off the transformation while adding a few variations with Marinette's approval.

The dress was still predominantly made out of satin but instead of navy, it was replaced with Ladybug's trademark shade of red. The stain was slightly more gathered at the hip by a small black rose brooch than the original design and instead of revealing a simple black fabric underlayer, she took the chance to add black chiffon over the matte fabric to a bit of texture. She'd also added more ripples to the black layer underneath, something that she hadn't had the luxury to do before due to the lack of materials. Because of these changes, however, she was forced remove the rose embroidery on the bottom of the dress and was left with only the maroon rose embroidery along the top border of the dress.

Then there was the one thing that Marinette _hadn't_ approved of.

She sighed. To be honest, she had suspected that Tikki would try and pull off something like this. And, fairly speaking, it wasn't a bad addition. In fact, she had recognized the cape as something that she had designed for another dress in the past. The kwami must have caught sight of it while she wasn't looking and integrated it into the dress.

Attached to the top back border of her dress, it was a shimmery red chiffon whose borders were lined with subtle rose embroidery which matched those that lined the top of her dress. To prevent tripping, the cape ended just an inch from the floor, out of reach of her blood red slippers.

In addition to the dress, Tikki had even added a dark red rose brooch to accompany Marinette's hair bun. What looked like diamonds trailed from the hair piece and was fixed firmly in place by nearly invisible pins.

And of course...there was the mask.

Marinette tugged at the edge of the mask which stuck firmly to her face as expected. It was her usual mask, a mask that she was usually proud to wear. But tonight it was what separated her as Ladybug. For the story of tonight would belong to Ladybug, not Marinette.

Shaking her head, she quickly dispelled her musing. As she did so, she realized that most of the line had gone inside already. The guards on either side of the gates moved quickly, only glancing at the card before tossing them into the basket next to them and allowing entry to the holder.

Stepping out from behind the corner that had hidden her from view, she hurried over, her hand tightly gripping her own invitation.

As she drew closer to the line, a couple of the dozen people or so still waiting to be admitted glanced at her before looking away only to do a double take and stare with open mouths. Murmurs of "Ladybug" could be heard throughout the crowd. Within seconds, half of the line had turned to look at her, a few pulling out their phones to take pictures.

Suddenly feeling somewhat self-conscious, she hurried over to the end of the line and kept her chin up as she tried her best to ignore the onlookers. The young man in front of her, obviously modeling some of his own work, turned and openly gaped at her which would have been funny if it weren't so creepy.

"You're holding up the line," she hinted, a polite smile on her face. Realizing his mistake, the man quickly shut his mouth and turned, hurrying to move up a few meters.

After a minute of not so subtle glances from the fellow attendees, it was finally Marinette's turn to be admitted. The two guards practically fought to be the one to take her invitation.

"Enjoy the ball, Ladybug," said one guard with a grin. He was then elbowed by his partner.

"Yes, have a good time tonight," his partner said, bowing slightly.

"Ah, thank you." She tried her best attempt at what she thought was a graceful smile. It must have worked, for the two guards gave matching goofy grins in reply as she entered the gates.

She'd been to the Agreste mansion multiple times in the past, both as Ladybug and as Marinette. The closest that she'd seen the mansion decorated for a party was when Nino had been akumatized, but that had just been a DJ stand and a food table in the courtyard. Now, however, the courtyard was transformed into a beautiful outdoor gathering area with refreshment tables and exotic potted plants from around the world. Twinkling lights were strung up and curled around columns and plants, giving the whole outdoor area a soft glow. That was all she had time to take notice of before she was surrounded.

"Ladybug! It is an honor to meet you! History has its eyes on you." A man, the first to step up to her, took her hand in both of his own and eagerly shook it, the colorful feathers on his outfit bouncing ridiculously as he did so. He was quickly pushed to the side by a woman whose gown was equally as amusing. She looked as if someone had thrown a tub full of silver fine glitter on her.

"You are Ladybug? I am pleased to meet you at last," the woman said, a heavy accent lining her voice. She smiled at her. "You are popular in China."

"In Japan as well," A woman stepped forward, bowing as she did so. Unlike the first woman, her accent was slightly less noticeable. She wore a less extravagant dress, a floor length chiffon gown with varying shades of blue. "You saved my husband from the last Akuma attack. Hontou ni arigatou gozaimasu." *

Marinette bowed uncertainly. She knew that the Japanese had a bowing culture similar to the Chinese one, if not a lot more commonly done.

"Ladybug!" A familiar excited voice called out to her over the crowd. Through the crowd, she could just make out Alya's waving hand as the girl quickly climbed down the steps. Phone already out and recording, the girl pushed through the crowd, much to the annoyance of others. As Alya finally came to the front, however, she stopped and frowned.

Her eyes took a good sweeping look at Marinette from head and toe, her frown only deepening as she did so. Marinette fidgeted uncomfortably, already knowing what was going through her friend's mind. She was hoping to avoid the girl for as much as possible; she didn't think that Alya would find her so _fast_. But then again, that girl was the owner of the Ladyblog for a reason.

Alya continued to stare at her, her brows pulled together in thought.

"Your dress looks...familiar," Alya finally said. Behind her, a man snorted.

"First you push through the crowd and then you accuse her of copying her dress from somewhere? Go back inside, girl."

Alya bristled at the comment and turned. "I didn't accuse her of anything!"

"Then what were you trying to imply then?" The man jeered.

"It's okay," Marinette quickly interjected just as Alya opened her mouth to retort back. "I know her."

Then, she turned to address the crowd surrounding her. "I know that you all want to speak to me but please, let me enjoy tonight. I'll try and talk to each of you in time." She smiled nervously. The crowd had fallen silent. They looked at each other uncertainly.

Just as she was afraid that she'd offended a couple dozen people, a woman spoke up from off to her right.

"She's right guys, give her some space!" The woman called out, a hand on her hip. She wore a bright bubblegum pink dress. Shutting her matching pink fan with a snap, she pointed it at the crowd. "There will be plenty of chances to meet her tonight so let the poor girl take a step away from the entrance at least!"

Marinette gave the woman a grateful look who, amusingly, seemed to be chewing gum and confirmed this by blowing a pink bubble with the candy. Upon closer inspection, Marinette realized that the theme of her dress actually revolved around bubblegum.

Murmurs ran through the crowd as it slowly dispersed, giving the freedom of movement to her once again. Only Alya didn't step away. Instead, her friend simply put her phone away and jerked her head towards the open door.

"Meet me inside."

Left with little choice, Marinette was forced to comply.

The inside of the mansion, normally a very modern style decorated in black and white, was transformed into a luxurious entrance hall. Instead of covering the original monochrome color scheme, Gabriel had chosen to integrate it into his decorating. Black carpet with a silver border was rolled over the marble floor and butlers in monochrome tailcoats stood at corners holding silver trays carrying small refreshments. Silver candle stands stood on top of tables covered with black velvet which were pushed to the side, each table attracting a small crowd. Through the gaps of their bodies, Marinette saw that the tables were not for food as she had originally assumed, but for showcasing various fashion accessories within glass cases.

She would have been drawn to one of the tables to gawk at the undoubtedly highly expensive pieces like the other partygoers if it weren't for Alya swiftly moving to the next room without a glance to see if the superhero was following.

Marinette had half a mind to simply lose her friend in the crowd but she knew that leaving the problem to grow would only make matters worse. And so, she followed the girl into the ballroom.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 *** Truly/Really, thank you very much**

 **Did you catch all the references?**

 **I was going to add a Chinese phrase for the Chinese woman but then I remembered that I can only speak my native language (rip) and I didn't want to ask my mom… So I put my Japanese into use instead :D**

 **I'm half Cambodian and half Chinese if you're curious, but I've studied Japanese language and culture for years and I'm currently learning Korean. (I started learning English almost decade ago)**

 **This story has been increasingly falling behind in terms of favorites/follows/views to my other ML story "Ceramics Club" so that story now has priority update over this one. BUT I am looking for a handful of beta readers for the next chapter for this story—it's not written up yet and editing skills are not required, only preferred. Send me a PM if you're interested! I don't want the next chapter to be too anticlimatic is all so some pre reviewers would be great**

 **I cut the original chapter in half since I realized that writing the whole ball scene would be twice this chapter length at the least… Thank you for reading!**


	10. Chapter 9

The ballroom was beautiful.

No, beautiful wasn't quite right. Breathtaking was a slightly more appropriate word.

Unlike the entrance hall, silver and marble dominated the ballroom. Golden lilies twisted and turned, wrapped around the tops of the polished marble columns lining the room, a couple feet away from the walls, between which were tables covered in silver tablecloths either holding platters of bite-size delicacies or showcasing more fashion pieces from the Agreste line. Dark silver vines curled around the outer edges of the dance floor, striking against the snow-white marble, and petals from the flowers that bloomed on the vines fell into the center of the room where the name Agreste was outlined in golden script. The silver chandelier which hung above it all cried teardrops of crystals, casting the whole room in subtle refractions of light in certain places. Even the attendees who seemed to have seen more than a few extravagant parties in their lifetimes admired the room in awe.

Butlers and maids could be seen wandering the room with silver platters, each as beautiful as they come. They held themselves gracefully, offering refreshments or desserts to those they passed. Most people simply nodded at them, not even blinking an eye at the gourmet food being offered to them.

Up until that moment, Marinette had never truly felt the distance between the lifestyles that herself and Adrien lived. Maybe it was the fact that they attended the same school that she was able to ignore that difference. Maybe it was because he always seemed nice to everyone. Regardless, the contrast was suddenly highlighted in heartbreaking detail. What chance would she have with someone like that—a modern day prince?

"Alya! Where have you been? You just suddenly left without saying if you'll be back or not and—" Nino suddenly stopped mid-sentence as he took notice of who exactly was trailing behind the girl. " _Ladybug_?"

Nino, who had been anxiously scanning the room, now fully turned to stare at her. Marinette had to admit, Nino looked different. Whether it was a good or strange different, she wasn't sure.

The boy wore a formal suit with red borders. That itself wouldn't have been strange, but his usual hat and headphones were missing.

Unfortunately, Nino wasn't the only one to be surprised by Ladybug's appearance. People nearby were already turning at the name and just as Marinette thought that a repeat of what happened outside was about to occur, a new voice spoke up.

"Come on people, don't stop and stare. Don't you all have better stuff to do?"

Marinette turned, fully expecting to see the same woman from earlier. To her surprise though, it was a different woman, despite the similarity in voice. This new woman was dressed in a gown that seemed candy cane themed, if the half-eaten candy cane in her hand was anything to go by. As the woman caught Marinette staring, she smiled.

"I'm Eliza. My sister texted me to watch out for you," she explained. Then she frowned at the handful of people who still surrounded them. "What are you waiting for? Go on, shoo."

With reluctant grumbles, they dispersed back to the dance floor. Eliza smiled at Marinette. "You have fun with your friends tonight. Don't let anyone ruin this for you; you're not helpless."

Touched, Marinette could only nod in reply. And with that, Eliza left.

"Do you know her?"

Marinette turned to see Alya giving her the same unreadable expression. Marinette shook her head.

Nino frowned. He knew Alya enough to know that something was off about the girl. Heck, she hadn't even pulled out her phone in the past few minutes and Ladybug was right there. "Alya, what's up? Why did you bring Ladybug here?"

Ignoring him, Alya continued to fixate her gaze on Marinette. She gestured to the girl's dress.

"This dress...is it yours?"

"M-my dress?" Marinette looked down in fake surprise. Luckily, she'd already thought of an excuse for this. A poor excuse that she had no faith in working, but it was an excuse nonetheless. "Ah, a girl made it for me as a favor. She was going to come in a similar dress—"

"Aha!" Alya pointed accusingly at her. "So you destroyed her dress to be the center of attention!"

"I—what?"

"Yes, I see it now," Alya said, nodding grimly. "You saw Marinette's dress and asked her to make you a similar dress but since you wanted to be the center of attention, you destroyed her dress so that she couldn't come!"

"Alya, that's ridiculous," Nino interrupted. "Ladybug would never do that!"

"Think about it, Nino. Who else could have gotten into her room during the day when they have to get through Marinette's parents first?" Alya argued. "I won't let anyone get away with that, even if it is Ladybug!"

Nino sighed. "Alya, does Ladybug really seem to be the kind of person who would destroy the dress of the person who made her a dress? You've been following her the most out of all of us so you should know the answer to that."

"Well, no, but—"

"Do you really think that Ladybug's that petty?"

"No," Alya admitted. "But—"

"But what?"

"I mean," Alya turned to Ladybug with half-hearted suspicion. "Do you have proof?"

"Well," she said slowly. "I don't have proof that I didn't destroy the dress. But if you ask Marinette, she can tell you that what I said was true. And I talked to her before coming here; her parents said that someone went to her room."

"What? Who?" Alya asked, her brows knitted.

"Er, she didn't say. She probably wanted you to have fun tonight so she didn't tell you," Marinette quickly said, just as her friend whipped out her phone. "She wanted me to surprise you too since you're such a big fan."

Alya studied the girl quizzically.

"C'mon, stop. We still need to find Adrien," Nino reminded. He put a hand on Alya's shoulder who jolted at the contact. "It's about time he came out."

Alya sighed. "You're right. Let's go." She smiled at Marinette. "Sorry, Ladybug. I'm just a little stressed about this whole situation. But if Marinette wants me to have fun, I'll have fun."

Relieved, she smiled back at her friend. "It's okay."

"Great, now that that's settled, let's go find Adrien." Nino clapped his hands together. "Ready, Alya?"

Alya nodded. "Yeah, let's go. Ladybug, you come too."

"Huh?" Marinette asked, confused. "Why?"

Alya rolled her eyes. "Girl, you can back up our claims when we accuse Chloe."

"And Adrien's gonna be ecstatic when he sees that you're here," Nino added with a grin. Then he frowned. "Chloe too, actually."

"What happened to forgetting about revenge for now and going to have fun?" Marinette asked wearily but allowed herself to be pulled after them around the dance floor.

"Seeing Chloe suffer _is_ my idea of fun," Alya replied. "Nino, there's too many people. How are we going to get there?"

"By going around the dance floor," Nino said, weaving through the wallflowers. "Pardon me—We'll get there eventually."

"Eventually," Alya echoed.

"Where are we going?" Marinette asked. As far as she could tell, they were simply weaving around the dance floor. The center of the room was taken up by many people already dancing in pairs to the waltz music which had begun playing during their conversation, without Marinette's notice. Now, what had previously been a place where people mingled and chatted among themselves, the room had transformed into a dance floor with bystanders standing near the sides of the room as others danced near the center.

"The other end of the room," Nino called back, slightly raising his voice over the music. "Adrien said that he will be entering from over there once most people have arrived. Something about his dad wanting to make a suitable entrance or something, I dunno. But we should be there to snag him when he comes out."

"He told you that?"

"I know him," Nino replied, dodging a giggling couple. "You could say I'm his right-hand man. Dude has no secrets from me."

"Wouldn't he come down the staircase at the entrance?" Marinette wondered. "No one's going to see him here; there aren't any stairs or anything for him to stand on."

"Yeah, his dad wanted him to come down from there. Adrien didn't want too big of a scene though." Nino shook his head. "You'd think that the model side of him would love the attention. Anyways, there's the door."

Nino pointed at a large double door less than a dozen meters away. Like many things in the room, the door was outlined in silver. Gabriel Agreste himself stood by the set of doors, a crowd of people surrounding him as the man talked to each of them, a glass of champagne in his hand. As she watched, the man glanced pulled out a pocket watch and glanced at it before clearing his throat.

"Thank you all for coming today. Now, as you may know, the Agreste family is not without an heir. So I now present to you my pride and joy, Adrien Agreste as well as the daughter of the mayor of Paris, Chloe Bourgeois." He stepped to the side of the doors as they opened outward, presenting a very uncomfortable looking Adrien with Chloe clinging onto his arm.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **ALL the references! A couple reviewers already guessed correctly which fandom I've been referencing ;)**

 **Huge thanks to the amazing** **jg13145 for beta reading this chapter and the next! There's a problem of OOCness in this chapter that I'll attempt to fix/explain in a future chapter so please bear with me .**

 **I already have nearly 8 pages of the next chapter written out and it was supposed to be combined with this one but had it cut since I didn't expect the ball to be so dang long to write. The length, coupled with a family and grade emergency and a few personal problems really delayed this chapter so I apologize for that; heavens forbid I ever have more than an hour's time to write.**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	11. Chapter 10

***Reference to season one episode thirteen, "The Mime"**

 **This chapter is entirely in Alya's POV of the past two or so chapters. There are no new scenes and can actually be skipped if you hate Alya for some reason. This, along with the last and next chapter, is entirely written in between study breaks and coffee so pardon my writing.**

* * *

Alya was no idiot.

Well, most of the time anyways. Other than the occasional brain farts, she considered herself a rather smart girl. But at this moment, she didn't even need to be smart. Heck, she'd have to be denser than _Adrien_ to not instantly piece things together, and that boy was the very definition of dense.

When she heard a nearby couple first mention "Ladybug", she's brushed it off. It was a rather common conversation topic, after all. She brushed off the second mention of the same name from another group as a coincidence. By the fifth time, however, even she started listening in. And when a nearby woman started gushing to her friend about how Ladybug had attended the ball, she had ditched Nino without a word, sprinting towards the entrance and ignoring her friend's shouts of surprise.

Which brought her to the current moment. "Ladybug" fidgeted uncomfortably as Alya looked her dress up and down. She'd have had to have been downright stupid to not recognize the same design that she had watched being put together for the past week. Other than the color change and the cape, it was pretty much the same dress. On top of that, she _knew_ that hairstyle. She had been the one to suggest it in the first place after rifling through Marinette's old school pictures. Honestly, what was the girl thinking? She knew that Marinette had a habit of acting without thinking sometimes (especially when it came to things even remotely regarding Adrien) but this was ridiculous. Alya wasn't sure if she should be offended or amused. Did the girl even think of how to explain the eerily similar dresses?

Alya fought the urge to roll her eyes. Judging by how her friend refused to even meet her gaze, she didn't even have an explanation prepared. Or, if she did, not a very good one. Typical of Marinette. Amusedly, she wondered what explanation the girl would give and fought back a grin. She'd have to chew the girl out later for not letting her in on this whole thing before. Sure, she was a little disappointed in who Ladybug really was, but not because Marinette wasn't a good person. Rather, now that Alya knew who the person behind the mask was, she can't reveal the identity. Even though she was a reporter, friendships came first, and no story was worth betraying her best friend for.

Even if this was the biggest scoop she'd ever had.

Keeping her voice neutral, she studied the other girl's reaction as she spoke. "Your dress looks...familiar."

To her amusement, the girl slightly flinched. Just slightly, a movement that would normally go undetected. But she knew that reaction; she'd seen it many times before. A snort from behind interrupted her thoughts.

"First you push through the crowd and then you accuse her of copying her dress from somewhere? Go back inside, girl."

Alya automatically bristled at the comment. Her temper flaring, she turned towards the man who spoke. "I didn't accuse her of anything!"

"Then what were you trying to imply then?"

"It's okay," Ladybug quickly interjected just as Alya opened her mouth to let the man know _exactly_ what she thought of his attitude. "I know her." Dang right she did.

She turned back to face her friend, who began to speak once again.

"I know that you all want to speak to me but please, let me enjoy tonight. I'll try and talk to each of you in time." Ladybug smiled nervously. Alya noted that it was the same tight smile that she'd seen on Marinette countless times in the past. Now that she thought about it, she'd seen that smile on Ladybug before and mentally berated herself for not connecting the dots earlier.

"She's right guys, give her some space!" The woman called out from somewhere behind Alya. Alya turned to see the speaker, a young woman wearing what was possibly the pinkest dress to ever grace the Earth. Shutting her fan with a threatening snap, the woman pointed it sternly at the crowd around her. "There will be plenty of chances to meet her tonight so let the poor girl take a step away from the entrance at least!"

For a moment, there was only uncertain silence. Then, as one, they slowly broke away with disgruntled mutterings.

Alya shoved her phone back into her black clutch. Jerking her head towards the door back into the mansion, she met Ladybug's gaze.

"Meet me inside."

It was amusing how the other girl obediently followed her, worry clear on her face. Before, Alya wouldn't have dared to be anything more than friendly with the superhero. Ladybug had been one of Alya's idols since the day that the iconic duo made their first appearance, after all. Sure, she was slightly miffed that her best friend had kept such a big secret from her but she could easily overlook that in return for an exclusive interview.

Almost unconsciously, Alya frowned, an expression hidden from the other girl. Now that she thought about it, she didn't know how exactly to confront her on this. In fact, she didn't know how to feel. It was a whirlwind of surprise, amusement, and annoyance to say the least. Since when did Marinette get so good at parkour? Was Chat Noir someone else who Alya knew personally? Was Marinette planning on ever telling her?

Alya grimaced. The Marinette that she knew was never very good at keeping secrets. In fact, she was downright terrible at lying at times. Alya was offended that her friend believed that she could hide this from her. She was tempted to see just how far the girl was planning on stretching that lie.

"Alya! Where have you been? You just suddenly left without saying if you'll be back or not and— _Ladybug_?" Nino asked, stunned. He had been scanning the room anxiously and his short hair was slightly ruffled. Alya watched his reaction carefully, but the boy showed nothing but genuine surprise. Almost immediately, his eyes darted to meet hers and he held her gaze for a second in a silent question. He knew Alya well enough to know that the girl would normally be squealing about being near Ladybug, and the fact that the girl had been silent was enough to hint him into the fact that something was wrong.

Unfortunately for them, Nino had been a little too loud. From the corner of her eyes, Alya was already picking up on a few people making their way towards the group, their faces already twisting into a smile and their hands already raising for a handshake with the young superhero. She let out a small sigh. She'd noticed these kinds of people while they made their way to the ballroom, of course, but she had walked quickly on purpose to avoid them.

"Come on people, don't stop and stare. Don't you all have better stuff to do?" A woman spoke, walking up from behind Ladybug. The woman stood almost protectively, her shoulders squared and back straight, but the slight waver in her voice indicated that she wasn't usually the type to grab the spotlight. She wore a dress whose style had clearly been inspired by a candy cane. Not for the first time that night, Alya seriously questioned modern fashion. She'd already seen outfits that were nearly impossible to move about in; what's next? An actual candy dress?

"I'm Eliza. My sister texted me to watch out for you," the woman explained, flashing a smile at Ladybug before turning to frown at the small group of people who had gathered around them."What are you waiting for? Go on, shoo."

With grumbles, the crowd dispersed, to Alya's surprise. Eliza and her sister from earlier must have some sort of power. Probably daughters of influential parents. Otherwise, there was no way that the crowd would have left just like that, both times. Racking her brain for possible identities of these sisters, Alya recalled the many news articles she'd read up on. As an aspiring reporter, she naturally kept up with the news. But, to her disappointment, she realized that there was no "Eliza" in any of the news that she could recall.

Realizing that she had been lost in her thoughts, she snapped back to reality just in time to see the woman leave. Ladybug's gaze followed the woman, surprise on her face before smiling. Alya felt a small pang of jealousy. _She_ should have been there to hold the crowd back for her friend. Instead, a stranger had taken over her role as a friend.

"Do you know her?"

Ladybug turned and shook her head, worry overcoming her face once again. Once again, Alya wondered curiously just what kind of explanation the girl had prepared—if there was one prepared at all.

"Alya, what's up? Why did you bring Ladybug here?"

She ignored Nino, focusing instead on how Ladybug was now intently studying one of the marble columns. Briefly, she entertained the idea of accusing her as Marinette right then and there but quickly shook away the idea. It was selfish, Alya knew, but she didn't want Nino in on the secret as well. She'd confront her in private later, after the ball. For now, she'll settle on watching her reactions. Marinette always did react amusingly in unexpected situations. Alya gestured to the girl's dress.

"This dress...is it yours?"

"M-my dress?" Ladybug looked down in painfully fake surprise, guilt obvious on her face. Alya couldn't decide between laughing or cringing at the act and fought to keep her expression blank. Unlike Marinette, Alya was a much better actress. "Ah, a girl made it for me as a favor. She was going to come in a similar dress—"

"Aha!" Alya pointed accusingly at her, causing the girl to jump slightly. "So you destroyed her dress to be the center of attention!"

It was a fairly used interrogator's tactic, one that Alya had picked up from crime shows. Reactions nearly always gave away whether a person was guilty or not and nearly all guards dropped for a split second at the most unexpected accusations. She never thought that she'd ever have to use it on anyone she knew and the pointing part was probably overdoing it but, to her surprise, it worked.

"I—what?" Ladybug's hands reached up to her right shoulder but stopped halfway and instead settled into lightly clenched fists in front of her neck. Marinette have always had a habit of touching her hair when stressed. Any doubt in Alya's mind about Marinette being Ladybug immediately cleared.

"Yes, I see it now," Alya said, nodding grimly. According to all detective shows, being grim during interrogations are a must. "You saw Marinette's dress and asked her to make you a similar dress but since you wanted to be the center of attention, you destroyed her dress so that she couldn't come!"

Nino, who had been silent in disbelief this whole time, finally spoke up.

"Alya, that's ridiculous," Nino said exasperatedly. "Ladybug would never do that!"

"Think about it, Nino. Who else could have gotten into her room during the day when they have to get through Marinette's parents first?" Alya argued, her own lie starting to take a life of its own. It was ridiculous, she knew. But she'd seen enough to be certain. "I won't let anyone get away with that, even if it is Ladybug!"

Nino sighed, completely done with his friend. To him, it just seemed as if Alya was lashing out her anger, even if it meant accusing her own idol. "Alya, does Ladybug really seem to be the kind of person who would destroy the dress of the person who made her a dress? You've been following her the most out of all of us so you should know the answer to that."

"Well, no, but—"

"Do you really think that Ladybug's that petty?"

"No," Alya said truthfully. She kept her face seemingly reluctant. "But—"

"But what?"

"I mean," Alya turned to Ladybug with apparent half-hearted suspicion and decided to play with her friend just one last time. She'd make up for all of this later on, of course. After all, she wouldn't be Alya if she didn't try to get Adrien and Marinette together tonight. "Do you have proof?"

"Well," Ladybug said slowly, her confidence starting to rapidly return now that she sensed the height of the danger passed. "I don't have proof that I didn't destroy the dress. But if you ask Marinette, she can tell you that what I said was true. And I talked to her before coming here; her parents said that someone went to her room."

Alya nearly smiled at this. Now, this was the Ladybug that she knew; confident. She wondered if this was something that was always part of Marinette, a part that only came out as Ladybug. Hopefully, that same confidence would apply when Alya forced her together with Adrien later.

"What? Who?" Alya drew her brows together. This part was only partly an act. Marinette had never told her this part, probably because the girl was trying to calm Alya down. Having an actual target to blame would certainly do the opposite of calming. But Alya had assumed it was Chloe as she was the only person she could think of who would do something so evil.

"Er, she didn't say. She probably wanted you to have fun tonight so she didn't tell you," she said quickly as Alya whipped out her phone under the pretense of texting Marinette to confirm her story. Panic returned to Ladybug's eyes for a second as she did this. "She wanted me to surprise you too since you're such a big fan."

"C'mon, stop. We still need to find Adrien," Nino reminded. "It's about time he came out."

Alya started to groan but quickly changed it to a sigh. She completely forgot about catching the model. Now on top of accusing Chloe of ruining Marinette's dress, she had a new goal of getting the boy with Ladybug. "You're right. Let's go." She smiled at Ladybug. "Sorry, Ladybug. I'm just a little stressed about this whole situation. But if Marinette wants me to have fun, I'll have fun."

"It's okay." Ladybug smiled in relief and Alya had to resist teasing the girl further.

"Great, now that that's settled, let's go find Adrien." Nino clapped his hands together. "Ready, Alya?"

Alya nodded. "Yeah, let's go. Ladybug, you come too."

"Huh?" she asked, confused. "Why?"

Because I'm shoving you into Adrien's arms the first chance I get, Alya thought dryly. Instead, she rolled her eyes and took hold of the other girl's wrist and began tugging her after Nino who had started walking away. "Girl, you can back up our claims when we accuse Chloe."

"And Adrien's gonna be ecstatic when he sees that you're here," Nino added with a grin. Then he frowned. "Chloe too, actually."

"What happened to forgetting about revenge for now and going to have fun?" Marinette asked wearily but allowed herself to be pulled after them around the dance floor. Waltz music had begun a few minutes prior, prompting many attendees to partner up to dance in the middle of the room. Everyone stood by the walls, chatting with one another as they scanned the room for potential partners for future dances.

"Seeing Chloe suffer _is_ my idea of fun," Alya replied. "Nino, there's too many people. How are we going to get there?"

"Go around the dance floor," Nino said, weaving through the wallflowers. "Pardon me—We'll get there eventually."

"Eventually," Alya echoed.

"Where are we going?" Ladybug asked.

"The other end of the room," Nino called back, slightly raising his voice over the music. "Adrien said that he will be entering from over there once most people have arrived. Something about his dad wanting to make a suitable entrance or something, I dunno. But we should be there to snag him when he comes out."

"He told you that?"

"I know him," Nino replied, dodging a giggling couple. "You could say I'm his right-hand man. Dude has no secrets from me."

"Wouldn't he come down the staircase at the entrance?" Ladybug wondered out loud. "No one's going to see him here; there aren't any stairs or anything for him to stand on."

Alya silently agreed. That was her first reaction to the information as well.

"Yeah, his dad wanted him to come down from there. Adrien didn't want too big of a scene though." Nino shook his head. "You'd think that the model side of him would love the attention. Anyways, there's the door."

Nino pointed at a large double door less than a dozen meters away. Like many things in the room, the door was outlined in silver where Gabriel Agreste himself stood, a crowd of people surrounding him as the man talked to each of them, a glass of champagne in his hand. The man glanced pulled out a pocket watch and glanced at it before clearing his throat.

"Thank you all for coming today. Now, as you may know, the Agreste family is not without an heir. So I now present to you my pride and joy, Adrien Agreste as well as the daughter of the mayor of Paris, Chloe Bourgeois." He stepped to the side of the doors as they opened outward, presenting a very uncomfortable looking Adrien with Chloe clinging onto his arm.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **...I just realized I hadn't posted this chapter I meant to post last week and had just been delusional about thinking I had. My bad. Chapter 11 is coming out later today since I just finished most of my finals. This chapter was also supposed to be less awkward but, honestly speaking, I have been losing interest in this fandom for the past month… So I've been trying to rekindle interest lately. Thank you for reading and reviewing!**


	12. Chapter 11

Adrien forced out a smile, one that he knew looked natural even when he was forcing it. Years of practice did that and it was a skill he used time and time again.

He knew that he looked good, and he didn't think that because of arrogance, but because it was the truth. His father himself had designed the black tailcoat he wore now. It was a somewhat modern tailcoat with emerald green bordering the sides and the cuffs of his sleeves. His father had used real silver buttons, each polished to perfection and engraved with his family name, to further show off his family's wealth as if the party itself wasn't enough. To make matters worse, he had agreed to Chloe's request to accompany his entrance because of her status as the mayor's daughter.

Adrien inwardly sighed. The girl hadn't given him a break since the second school had let out. Not only had she _still_ hadn't let him check his phone, but she also insisted on holding onto his arm once they were to make their entrance. Unlike his classmates, he didn't hate Chloe, but he didn't particularly love her either. She'd caused more than her fair share of akumas, giving both him and Ladybug more grief than any other person.

Not that Chloe would ever admit to that, of course.

The blond girl was wearing a white dress trimmed with gold. A real diamond tiara sat upon her head, matching her diamond necklace and earrings. Instead of her usual blue eyeshadow, the girl had swapped it for gold. Surprisingly, she hadn't changed much about her usual hairstyle. She had curled her ponytail but otherwise left it untouched. He wished that she had change it, as it whacked him in the face every time she turned her head too fast.

The girl smiled haughtily at the crowd who was now clapping as they walked into the room. Those who stood near Gabriel congratulated him on his son. Others parted way for the pair, making a path to the dance floor.

Adrien hid a grimace. He had expected to have to dance with Chloe but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Come on, Adrikins, you know what to ask," Chloe said sweetly, taking a step away from the boy as she looked at him expectantly. Adrien let out a small sigh.

"May I have this danc—"

"Adrien!" A voice called out, just barely audible above the talking and music around him. Turning, he could just barely make out Nino's face through the crowd. Unfortunately, Chloe seemed to have spotted him as well and let out a small growl.

"Of course you may have this dance, Adrien!" Chloe crooned as she forcefully took his hand and began pulling him into the dance floor. "It is my pleasure."

"Wait, Chloe—"

"I _said_ , of course, you may have this dance, Adrien," Chloe said, a dangerous glint in her eyes. And with that, she forced him onto the dance floor with her as he gave a helpless glance at his friend.

Strangely, he thought he saw a very familiar flash of red in the crowd.

* * *

Both Alya and Nino groaned simultaneously. Marinette, who had been behind them and therefore was unable to see what had happened, looked at them in confusion. "What happened?"

"Chloe dragged him off to dance," Nino said, shaking his head. "I didn't think that he'd enter _with_ her."

"Sadly, I'm not surprised. Trust Chloe to do something like that," Alya said in disgust. "He doesn't belong to her, what right does she have to do that?"

"She can't keep him to herself the whole night though, right?" Marinette said, hopefully.

Nino shook his head again. "With that girl, anything's possible. I wouldn't be surprised if she does manage to keep him away the whole night."

"Well, I'm not having it," Alya growled. "We'll have to get to her one way or the other. They can't dance forever. C'mon Ladybug, we're going to catch them and we'll pry him from her cold, dead hands if we have to."

"Hopefully it won't come down to that," Nino laughed. He began walking back the way they came, with Alya following him. She'd released Marinette's wrist earlier when Adrien had first entered and didn't bother holding on again, trusting the superhero to follow.

"This dance that just started; how long does it last?" Alya called out to Nino, a few paces in front of her.

"How should I know?"

"You're the music guy!"

"I'm not the _waltz_ music guy!"

"Well, how long do these songs usually last?" Alya asked, exasperated. She glanced back once to make sure that Ladybug was following her. "Do you know?"

Marinette shrugged. "They're usually about ten minutes, right?"

Alya turned back to Nino. "See! Even Ladybug knows more than you!"

"Well, _excuse_ _me_ for not knowing waltz!"

Marinette giggled. It was beyond her why those two hadn't started dating yet. The two had clearly made some sort of connection that time they were trapped together* and from what she gathered, it was a misunderstanding of sorts. From Alya's behavior, she'd concluded that her friend must have friend zoned Nino but started developing feelings for the boy afterward, which was amusing sometimes considering how much Alya pushed Marinette to win Nino over. But then again, it was probably her friend's way of encouraging herself. It's easier to give advice than to take it, after all.

As the pair continued to bicker over whether or not waltz music should be within Nino's knowledge or not, a man took a step backward, right into Marinette. Caught off guard, both were sent stumbling to the side. Marinette, being slightly more graceful as Ladybug, quickly balanced herself. The man, however, wasn't so lucky.

"I am so sorry! Are you okay?" Marinette asked, a worried look on her face. She held a hand out to the dazed man who took it, an apology already on his lips as he stood up.

"No, no, I should be the one who's sorry; I wasn't looking where I was going," the man said, an apologetic smile on his face. He was a young man, maybe in his early twenties or so, wearing a rather outdated style of a suit. An accent lined his voice. "My name is Alex."

"Ladybug," Marinette replied, casting her eyes to her left. But it was too late; Alya and Nino had already disappeared in the crowd.

"Ladybug?" The man smiled in amusement. "What an unusual name. Is it a nickname of sorts?"

Realizing that she couldn't find her friends now, Marinette resigned to a conversation with Alex and fully turned to face him. She raised her eyebrow. "You're not from Paris, are you?"

"Well, no," Alex admitted. "I am actually from a country in the Caribbean. How could you tell?"

"I… Well, you have an accent," Marinette finally said. It wasn't exactly a lie.

Alex laughed. "Is it that obvious?"

"Alex!" A bubblegum pink-gloved hand reached out, lightly grabbing a hold of the man's arm. The woman, the same one from the entrance, walked up to the pair. She smiled at the man and, with surprise, looked at Ladybug before turning with a disapproving frown on her face to Alex. "Are you giving Ladybug trouble?"

"Angelica," Alex said in surprise. He tilted his head slightly. "You know this young lady?"

Angelica rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. Who doesn't know Ladybug? She's the hero of Paris, after all."

"Hero?" Alex turned to Marinette, bewilderment on his face, as well as disbelief. "Surely you're only referring to the theme of the outfit?"

"Nope. She's a hero true and through," Angelica said, laughing at the incredulity on Alex's face. She began pulling his arm. "But nevermind that; come with me."

"Where are you taking me?"

"I'm about to change your life," Angelica said simply, a mischievous smile on her face. And, if Marinette's eyes could be trusted, a fleeting hint of sadness.

"Then by all means, lead the way." Alex smiled at the bubblegum themed woman. He turned to Ladybug, a slight nod of his head. "It was nice meeting you, Ladybug. I hope my abrupt leaving isn't too rude of me."

Marinette quickly shook her head. "The pleasure was all mine."

Alex started to follow, but it was Angelica who stopped. She peered at Marinette curiously. "Where's your friend? Weren't you with that girl earlier?"

"Ah, I lost her earlier," Marinette said with a frown. "We were looking for someone but we were separated during our search."

"Looking for someone? And you lost your friend?" Angelica looked at Marinette with almost motherly concern. It was strange. Now that Marinette actually looked at Angelica, she realized that the woman was actually close to Alex's age, if not a little older. The makeup gave her the look of a more mature looking woman causing Marinette to overestimate her age initially.

"We're looking for someone important," Marinette explained. "But it's hard because of his status."

"What is his name? Perhaps I can help," Angelica offered. Her eyes were already darting through the crowd as if looking for the said person already.

"It's…" Marinette hesitated. Then, realizing there was no harm in telling, she replied, "Adrien. Adrien Agreste."

Angelica, as well as Alex, looked at the girl in surprise. "The Agreste boy?" Angelica asked in surprise.

Marinette nodded, expecting the woman to apologize and leave. Instead, Angelica smiled coyly.

"Young love, eh? I'll get him for you in a little bit. Go to the staircase in the entrance hall; I'll get him to go meet you there."

Taken by surprise, Marinette blushed and looked up at her in shock. "What?"

Angelica laughed. "I know the feeling of finding love at a dance. My father actually holds quite a bit of power, you see. Don't worry about it; I'll send the boy over after taking Alex here to a certain someone."

"I…" Unsure if she could trust the woman and still in doubt if what the woman said was true, Marinette struggled to find words. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. My other younger sister who isn't here tonight was caught up in an Akuma attack in the past. I owe you one," Angelica replied with an incline of her head. She started pulling Alex again, her body already turned away. "Now go on; your prince charming will be there as soon as I catch him."

Marinette opened her mouth to thank the woman again, but Angelica had already gone, pulling Alex with her. And so, before anyone else could recognize her as Ladybug and pull her away into a conversation, she made her way to the entrance hall.

* * *

Adrien was seriously debating on faking a crippling leg cramp. Or an arm cramp. Heck, he'd use a toe cramp as an excuse if that meant getting out of dancing with Chloe.

Childhood friend or not, Chloe was really testing him. If she let out another comment about how perfect his dancing was or crooned over his "manly" biceps, he was going to "accidentally" trip her into some poor couple dancing near them. It was still the first dance and he didn't know how much longer he could take. Even he couldn't handle this many hours with Chloe in a single day. Adrien didn't know what was up with the girl but she'd been the most controlling she had ever been with him for the past six hours. He even suspected that she had stolen his phone earlier that day. If he didn't know better, it was almost as if she was trying to keep something important from him. From literally dragging him out of school to forcing him to spend the whole evening with her, the girl had been controlling his whole past six hours or so. She was almost as bad as his father.

"Oh, Adrien," Chloe giggled. "You are like, _so_ good at this."

Adrien forced out a smile. On the inside, he was already planning exactly when he was going to trip the she-demon.

But it turned out, he didn't have to.

The music, with perfect timing, abruptly drew to a close and before he was even done finishing up the dance, he felt his arm pulled at, tugging him out of Chloe's grasp and off the dance floor.

"Adrien Agreste," a voice spoke. Turning to his right, he was confronted with more pink than should be legally allowed on one person. A woman smiled widely at him, her grin highlighted by ridiculously bright pink lips. "Pardon me, I need you to come with me."

" _Excuse me?_ " Adrien winced at the shrill voice as Chloe scowled at the woman. "Adrikins is _mine_ for tonight. He doesn't have to go _anywhere_."

Annoyed at the interruption, the woman smiled sweetly at the blond girl. "Well honey, I believe that his father will say otherwise. You see, his father and my father have just started becoming acquainted with one another and if I were to, let's say, _encourage_ my father to break off that friendship because of a certain girl, that blame would fall on a certain someone, wouldn't it?"

Chloe glared at the woman. "Well, _my_ father is the mayor of Paris _and_ I'm Adrien's childhood friend."

The woman, abruptly dropping her facade, regarded Chloe coolly. "Are you now? _My_ father is the French Minister of Defense** and if you know what's good for you, you'd back off right now. The guards here are supplied by my father after all and it'd be a shame if I had to tell them to remove a certain girl from this mansion."

"There's…" Chloe struggled with her words, obviously flustered. Her cheeks turned red. "There's no guards here!"

"Mr. Agreste insisted on them being undercover. This _is_ a fashion contest after all. There are many important people here tonight and you must be naive to believe that there aren't any security measures in place," the woman said distastefully. She tightened her grip on Adrien's arm. "So I'll be taking Agreste here with me. I'm sure you'll have your time with him again later. Goodbye, Ms. Bourgeois."

And with that, the woman snapped her bubblegum pink fan open and held it to her face as she led the stunned model away. Behind them, Chloe gritted her teeth and started to follow the two only to find her way blocked by a middle-aged man wearing a suit made entirely out of camouflage fabric. A scar marred his left face, barely missing his left eye and lip. He looked down at the girl, smiling thinly.

"My apologies. Ms. Angelica Schuylar has given strict orders to stop you from following."

Chloe was furious. She pointed a perfectly manicured golden finger at him. "Do you _know_ who my father is?"

"Yes. But frankly, I don't care. Leave Ms. Schuylar alone or my colleagues and I will be forced to make a scene," the man warned.

"I can have you fired for this!"

"Unfortunately, that matter is out of your father's jurisdiction. I am not employed by the mayor of Paris."

"I—" Chloe stamped her foot in frustration. Very rarely in life had she ever faced a problem she couldn't fix with the mention of her father. In fact, the last time that she didn't get what she wanted was…

Chloe shook her head viciously, shaking away the memories. "Fine! I'll go and see what Adrien's father says about this!"

"Be my guest," the man replied humorlessly. "But one would think that as the only child to the mayor of Paris, you would act a bit more responsibly. No attempt to social climb or any sign of dignity. It is no wonder that Ms. Schylar lost her temper with your attitude."

"Why you—"

"Chloe!"

Chloe turned, ready to snap at whoever had called her. Recognizing two very familiar and very angry faces making their way towards her through the crowd, she rolled her eyes.

Already know what they wanted, she turned back to the man. "This isn't over," she said threateningly before turning and expertly dodging dancers and wallflowers alike as she walked away from Alya and Nino, her pace surprisingly quick for someone wearing a rather poofy dress. Within a minute, the girl had lost them as dancers made way for her, having recognized the girl.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 ***From episode 16, "Animan"**

 **** Not accurate to actual current French Minister of Defense (obviously, these characters are fiction)**

 **Thank you for reading and reviewing!**


	13. Chapter 12

Adrien was stunned. He'd never, not once in his life, had he seen _anyone_ really stand up to Chloe like that, including her own father. Not many people had more power than the mayor of Paris after all and any power that her father had might as well be power that Chloe had. In fact, he never thought that he'd ever meet someone who would have more status power than Chloe's father, much less be dragged away from the girl by one.

"Sorry about the sudden interruption, I hope you don't mind if I borrow you from that _girl_ ," the woman said with distaste. She glanced back at Adrien with a quick smile. "You didn't look like you were having too much fun."

"I wasn't," Adrien said automatically, slightly surprising himself with his honesty as he did so. Then, attempting to sound a little more polite, he immediately followed up with, "Well, it wasn't so bad."

"Mhm."

"Really, it wasn't," Adrien said halfheartedly. "She's...not that bad once you get to know her."

"Mhm."

Seeing that there was nothing to be said to convince the women, Adrien gave up. "Speaking of Chloe, will you really be okay?"

"I'll be fine; there is nothing that girl can do to me other than being a brief annoyance to my father if she actually tries to pull something with her father's weight," Angelica said, distaste in her voice once again. "Honestly, that girl's pathetic. Spoiled to the core with no sense of dignity for herself or for her family name. As the oldest child, she must have _some_ sense of responsibility."

Although he didn't say it, Adrien silently agreed. Instead of voicing his agreement, however, he instead asked, "Where are you taking me?"

Angelica faltered in stride before quickly picking up her pace, her grip on Adrien's arm tightening just slightly. "You're not the first the ask me that tonight."

Unsure of how to respond to that, Adrien stayed silent.

"A young lady asked me to bring you to the staircase. She should be waiting for you there right now, actually."

"A young lady?" Adrien fought off a grimace. He knew that his father had done his best to keep his fans out but if one of them happened to be an accomplished designer or model then it wouldn't be too hard to get in. He briefly felt a flutter of hope that it would be one of his friends, Alya or Marinette, but quickly squashed the feeling. It was better to expect the worst; you won't be disappointed that way. Dealing with his father for the past year or so had taught him that.

"A very nice young lady," Angelica confirmed. "I owe her a small favor, you see, and on top of that, I can't bare to see more unrequited love at a ball. At least she can have a chance, even if it is a small one."

Forcing a polite smile, Adrien replied, "I'll try to give her a chance."

"Good boy. Ah, I think I see her now." Angelica released her hold on the model's arm as they entered the entrance hall. She gave a gentle push in the direction of the staircase. "I'll leave you to it."

Confused, Adrien had no choice but to make his way towards the staircase.

* * *

Marinette fought the urge to fiddle with her dress, her eyes scanning the room nervously. It'd been awhile since she started waiting at the base of the staircase and she was really starting to doubt if she could trust Angelica. She didn't think that the woman was lying, but Chloe was seriously on a whole other level of power and separating that girl from Adrien would be nearly impossible.

Chewing the inside of her cheek, Marinette began to study the various fashion showpieces nearby once more, her third time rereading the neat descriptions and studying each elaborate accessory displayed on the tables. She'd talked some people earlier, of course, engaging in polite conversation with various people who said that they admired her or were thankful for saving them at one point or another. The first dozen people worked well in distracting her from the growing panic but her nervousness eventually got to her and she had to back away from conversations before she made a fool of herself. After that, people seemed to keep a respectful distance away from her as she fidgeted by the staircase. Unbeknownst to her, there were actually quite some people who attempted to approach the girl, but they were quickly intercepted by a couple of men, each wearing an outfit which integrated some sort of camo pattern and was politely, but firmly, encouraged to keep their distance.

Waltz music softly carried into the entrance hall from the ballroom over the polite conversations between the other guests. From what she's seen so far, the other guests seemed to vary from hopeful models and designers who are just starting out to high-class designers who have been personally invited by Gabriel Agreste. Not just anyone could attend, however, and apparently those who were only starting out had to go through Agreste's secretary for an invitation.

"Ladybug?"

Marinette jumped slightly, letting out a small squeak of surprise in the process. She'd been so busy studying the rose quartz necklace on a nearby table that she'd completely missed Adrien coming up to her from her right. The boy in question looked equally as surprised. Even a little flustered if her eyes could be trusted, but Marinette quickly dismissed this notion. There was no reason for Adrien to be flustered; he was a top model and she was well...herself.

"A-Adrien," Marinette said, her voice higher than usual. She cleared her throat only to realize she had no idea what to say. All her lines that she'd been practicing in the past few minutes to prepare her for this moment vanished, leaving her frozen as she stared at the model wordlessly. She was well aware that she was probably looking like an idiot right now, or, as Alya sometimes put it, a "drooling fool"

"What are you doing here?" Adrien finally asked.

"I…" Marinette's mind went blank again. Taking this as a sign that she was offended by this question, Adrien quickly waved his hands in front of him.

"Not that you're not welcome here, of course," he said hastily. "You don't have to tell me why you're here if you don't want to."

Relieved for this change in topic, Marinette attempted a smile. Inside, she was rapidly trying to regain control over her thoughts. Alya taught her better than this, she told herself. It would be a shame for all of Alya's work to go to waste. All those breathing exercises would be for naught if she failed to control herself now.

Taking a breath, she smiled at Adrien.

"I thought I would drop by. Sorry I didn't give much notice beforehand," she apologized. But Adrien was already shaking his head before she finished speaking.

"I don't think anyone would argue your presence here. You saved my father and me from akumas before."

Marinette blushed. "It was my duty."

"You still choose to be Ladybug; no one forced you to be a superhero. It's hard work but you still do it."

He looked so serious for a moment that she couldn't help but smile amusedly at him. "What do you know about being a superhero?"

"You'd be surprised at how much you can learn from comics."

She laughed at this, her hand covering her mouth as she did so. "Do you think I got bitten by a radioactive spider then?"

"A radioactive ladybug is more like it," Adrien grinned. "Or maybe you were given your powers by a fairy."

Marinette froze for a moment, a nervous smile taking over her face. "Yeah...haha…"

Adrien gave her a seemingly oblivious smile. "So did you just arrive? I didn't see you earlier."

"Er, kinda."

"Kinda?"

"I was with Al—your friends earlier. They were looking for you in the ballroom but I got separated from them. Then Angelica found me and told me to wait here," she explained.

Adrien peered at her curiously. "You were looking for me?"

Marinette blushed furiously. "I, well, I mean, your friends were but, you know...maybe?"

"Maybe? You _might_ have been looking for me?" Adrien teased. His tone seemed vaguely familiar, but Marinette ignored it. Strangely, she began to relax a little.

"I might have been, I might not have been," she said, crossing her arms in mock annoyance. She surprised herself with her actions; Alya would have been pleased.

Adrien grinned. "And just when I thought I was worthy of Ladybug's attention. Darn."

"The attention of half the girls of Paris isn't enough for you?"

"Not when only one of them matters."

Marinette raised her eyebrow at this. This wasn't the same Adrien that she thought she knew; Adrien wasn't a natural flirt. Or at least, she didn't think he was. But then again, maybe she was too busy admiring him from afar like she usually did. Strangely, she didn't dislike this new Adrien. "Since when were you such a flirt?"

Adrien fought back the urge to say, "Since I met you." Instead, he asked, "Does it bother you?"

She shrugged. "I'm used to it. Chat Noir is a bigger flirt."

"He's pretty cool, isn't he?"

Marinette laughed. "I wouldn't call him that."

"What?" Adrien feigned a hurt look. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's a huge flirt, for one," Marinette said, rolling her eyes. "I doubt that I'm the only one he flirts with."

"You don't know that."

Marinette shook her head. "A guy like that probably flirts with every girl he meets."

"Have you seen him flirt with any other girl?" Adrien pressed.

"Well, no, but…" Marinette suddenly frowned. "Why all the interest in Chat?"

"I…" Adrien hesitated. "I like Chat."

"Maybe I should have brought him along tonight," she teased. "he can be your dance partner."

Adrien made a face. "That would be...weird. To say the least."

"I'm sure he'd be a better partner than Chloe at least," Marinette laughed. "Wouldn't you rather dance with him than Chloe?"

" _Anyone_ would be a better partner than Chloe," Adrien replied immediately. Then he grinned. "But speaking of dancing, would you like to dance?"

"Me? Dancing?" Marinette balked at the prospect. "With _you_?"

Adrien's grin faltered. "What's wrong with me?"

" _Nothing_ is wrong with you," she said quickly. "It's just...I can't dance. At all."

"How about I lead then?" Adrien suggested. "It's easy. Just follow my lead."

"I shouldn't... I'm really clumsy."

Adrien chuckled. "Ladybug? Clumsy? Ladybug's not clumsy."

But Marinette is, she thought dryly. "I'm just not fond of dancing. And plus, Chloe must still be in that room. I'd rather avoid her."

Dejected, Adrien pouted slightly. "What do you want to do then? All there really is to do is dance at these things until it's time to announce winners, and that won't be for a while."

"You want to spend time with _me_? Don't you have better things to do?" Marinette asked, surprise.

"I'm really only here so my dad can show me off to everybody," Adrien said, making a face. "What have you been doing if you haven't been dancing then? Other than following my friends around."

"I…I was looking at the displays?"

"Is that a question?" Adrien smiled humorously. It was somewhat rare to see Ladybug uncertain. Well, rare for Chat, anyways. He wondered if it had something to do with him being Adrien at the moment.

"I was looking at the displays," Marinette said a little more firmly. Then, a little uncertainly in case she offended him, "There's a lot of...gems." Almost overwhelmingly so, she silently added.

Adrien nodded, almost a little distastefully. "My father's work. Another way for him to show off. Sometimes I think he's lost sight of actually designing. Did you see that necklace over there? A garnet, amethyst, and pearl all in one piece. You'd think that he'd know better."

Sensing she had hit a sore spot, Marinette simply nodded. But Adrien wasn't done.

"He has some diamond necklaces on display as well. Three of them. Well, there used to be four, but the pink one shattered a while back." Adrien shook his head. "It's like he's asking to get robbed."

"You can shatter a diamond?" Marinette asked curiously. "Aren't they the hardest gem?"

Adrien shrugged. "Maybe another diamond did it. I don't know. Or another gem. He has a lot of those around lately. It's like he's trying to form his own gem cluster."

"I...see." Changing the topic, asked, "What do you want to do then?"

"We can…" Adrien's gaze wandered. He briefly considered inviting her to his room but he knew that his father would find out sooner or later through one of the mansion's security cameras and would give him yet another lecture. On top of that, he didn't exactly fancy having his father know that he brought a girl to his room, superhero or not. But he didn't want to stay in the entrance hall with Ladybug for the whole time either; she'd get bored within half an hour, and that was the last thing he wanted. If she didn't like Chat, maybe he could make her like Adrien.

Just as he was considering trying to convince her to dance again, he felt just a hint of a breeze. His gaze fell onto the open doors of the mansion, propped open for the guests to easily go in and out at will. He grinned.

"Follow me."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Literally posting this from a tiny window in stats class right now so this isn't really edited at all...Sorry about that (Update: Checked! (to a certain degree))**

 **Sorry for the late update; I honestly didn't think it had been so long until someone reviewed a couple days ago!**

 **Thank you for reading and reviewing!**

* * *

Miraculerauslly - Thank you for reading! Ahaha, I was listening to the song as I wrote that chapter

acupfullofcolors - About time she got a taste of her own medicine :)

Leonine-Lilt - Hamilton ftw!

mayuralover - Thank you for reading! :3

Luiz4200 - Haha, I hope she meets someone like Angelica in the show too next season

AngelPie2015 - Thank you for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed the references :)

Poksie - ;)

Marichat77 - Only clips so far...It's actually playing in my city right now but tickets are expensive ;_;

MarshmallowWitch - Yep!

Rogue181 - Thank you! :)

AnimeKittyKat - Thank you for reading!


	14. Chapter 13

**Long chapter alert!**

 **Completely unedited; will edit when I return from my road trip. Been trying to upload this for a week now ;_;**

* * *

"Adrien, where are we going?" Marinette asked, slightly exasperated.

After refusing to answer any of her questions with anything but a grin, he'd led her towards the restrooms, easily dodging guests along the way when they tried to approach the pair. Instead of joining the line for the restroom, however, the model had taken a left through a door guarded by one of the butlers and into the hallway. It wasn't one of the grand hallways; in fact, it looked rather simple compared to the rest of the mansion. She had a feeling that these were one of the hallways meant for workers, if the occasional passing maids and butlers were anything to go by. Like true trained workers, they hadn't given the pair more than a single glance before scurrying by.

"There's a side door exit meant for trash disposal at the end of this hallway," Adrien explained. "I used to go through there all the time. It's one of the few places where father doesn't have cameras set up since all there is to see is the dumpster."

"...Are you throwing me away?"

"Only if I can be thrown away with you," he replied with a grin. A sudden sense of familiarity struck her, although she wasn't exactly sure why. "Nah, we're going to sneak out to the park."

"The...park? Why?"

"Would you rather stay?"

"Well, not really…" Not if you're not there, she thought silently. "But ou— _your_ friends are looking for you."

"They'll survive. I'll bring you back in time to see the contest results," he promised. Her heart skipped a beat at this. Results probably wouldn't be out for at least another hour, meaning that she'd get an hour alone with Adrien _._ She didn't know if she'd ever spent that much time alone with him before; maybe that one time when he came over to practice for that gaming tournament, but that was at home where her mom would periodically pop in. This was different; _anything_ could happen in an hour alone.

Then a thought struck her.

"But you're Adrien Agreste," Marinette protested. "Can you just leave like that? Won't your dad be furious if he found out?"

"He…" Adrien faltered in his stride for a moment before quickly picking up his pace, a little faster than before. "My father just wants something to show off. He has enough displays to show off in my place for tonight."

"Adrie—"

"Are you hungry?" He asked, cutting her off. He turned and flashed her a smile. "You haven't eaten yet, have you?"

She knew that he was only attempting to change the topic, but at the mention of food, her stomach growled, reminding her of its existence. She hadn't eaten since dinner, and that seemed like forever ago. Not to mention that she had only eaten a little because she was afraid of eating too much and making her stomach bludge out.

"I am a little hungry," she admitted.

Adrien's eyes lit up. "Do you want to eat before we leave? What do you like? We have five-star chefs working here so you can have anything you want."

"Um, anything is fine, really. I don't really have too much of a preference," she answered. Then, as an afterthought, she added, "I do like sweets though."

"Sweets? That's perfect; I know this amazing bakery by the park that my friend owns—well her parents own it—and I can see if she's still awake—"

"Actually, on second thought, I'm not too hungry," Marinette said hurriedly. There was only one bakery by the park and she had a pretty good guess on exactly which bakery he meant. The last thing that she needed was for him to look for "Marinette" while she was "Ladybug"

"Are you sure?" Adrien looked at her, somewhat deflated. The romantic part of him was hopeful for a small meal under the moonlight. Afterall, what better way to a person's heart than through their stomach? "Do you want to grab a snack before we go at least then?"

Before she could answer, Adrien was already waving down one of the approaching butlers coming from the other side of the hall. The man, who had been keeping his eyes respectfully trained forward and away from the couple, immediately stopped and slightly turned to face them. He bowed, carefully balancing his silver tray as he did so.

As they approached, Marinette could see neatly arranged bite size pieces of toast with what looked like cream and smoked salmon topped with chives resting on top the butler's tray, each hardly half the size of her palm. They were the most pretentious pieces of food she'd ever seen.

"I asked father to keep some of the foods simple," Adrien explained. "Nino said that some people probably weren't comfortable with overly fancy foods. We'll probably pass by a couple more butlers on the way to the kitchen since they're located near the back exit, so if you don't like this we can keep looking. Do you like smoked salmon?"

Simple was a relative term, Marinette thought with slight bemusement. She usually only thought of smoked salmon on toast as a breakfast food, or even lunch, and even the cheaper ones were just out of her usual breakfast spending range. Not to mention, she could already tell that all the food here was top notch; she wouldn't be surprised if the cost of that whole tray right now be equal to the price of her dress.

Well, her original dress anyways.

"I like salmon," Marinette said, politely smiling at the butler. The man managed the barest of smiles back. A thought struck her, and she realized that butlers were probably used to being ignored. She blushed lightly in embarrassment, wondering if she breached some etiquette by acknowledging the man.

"That's good, have as many as you want," Adrien replied, smiling. He took a piece for himself from the tray. "I don't want you to get hungry."

Marinette followed suit, gingerly taking a piece. She briefly considered stuffing the whole thing in her mouth but didn't want to risk looking like an idiot struggling to chew the whole thing.

As if noticing her dilemma, Adrien grinned before popping his own piece right into his mouth, just barely managing to chew with his mouth closed, and winked at her. He looked like a chipmunk.

Letting out a surprised laugh, Marinette did the same with her piece.

Although she was expecting it, the taste took her off guard. It was nothing like any of the smoked salmon with cream cheese she's had before; she could immediately tell that everything was fresh and house made. The normal sweet tang of the cream cheese was slightly cut by the smoked taste of the salmon, and the fish all but melted into the cream. The toast was neither soggy nor too crispy as some toast were, and complemented the toppings beautifully, the lightly buttered bread adding texture as well as stopping the cream from being too overpowering in taste.

"Do you want to grab another piece before we go? Just in case you don't like what the next butler has," Adrien asked. Wordlessly, Marinette nodded.

The next two butlers carried raw oysters and some kind of sea urchin sushi topped with caviar, both of which she tried at the encouragement of Adrien. By the time they were outside, she felt surprisingly full.

The night breeze came as a relief; the inside of the mansion was surprisingly stuffy, even away from most people. Outside, she was free. She kind of felt bad for Adrien, constantly living in this place with no freedom to himself. Without a doubt, his dad kept a careful watch on his son, in or out of the house. With all things considered, it was surprising that he could still smile the way he did at school, instead of being the stuck up guy she once thought he was.

"We'll have to scale the wall," Adrien said sounding apologetic. He gestured at the iron gate next to the dumpsters. "Opening the back gate will alert the security system. But since you're wearing a dress that might be difficult. I can see if one of the butlers can sneak us out, but..." He trailed off uncertainly.

Marinette studied the small enclosure critically. It was clearly built for the sole purpose of guarding the dumpsters from unwanted outside trash. The wall itself was a little less than ten feet in height, with iron spikes curved outwards on the top to discourage trespassers from even trying to scale the wall. One of the dumpsters was pushed against the wall, and she was amused to see that it was spotlessly clean like everything else in the mansion.

"It's fine, I can manage," she reassured him, stepping closer to the dumpster. Even in a dress, she was still transformed as Ladybug. Scaling a wall of this size was nothing to her, especially not when parkouring across Paris was part of her nightly patrols. Closing the dumpster lid, she placed both her hands on the top of the dumpster before gracefully heaving herself on top.

"Are you sure? You're wearing a dress," Adrien frowned, slightly worried as he heaved himself onto the dumpster as well. He kept an arm out behind her, hovering a few inches from the small of her back, ready to catch her if she slipped. Not that he expected her to, of course, he had absolute trust in Ladybug's skills. But Ladybug or not, he couldn't help but worry.

"Don't worry, I do this all the time," she replied easily. She was confident in her abilities; the streets of Paris was her territory and, after countless patrols, she felt at home scaling walls and jumping over rooftops.

"At least let me go first so I can catch you," Adrien offered, but already she had taken hold of the top of the wall. After an experimental yank, she pulled herself to the top easily and for a moment, she was balancing upon the wall before hopping off onto the other side. She landed gracefully on the balls of her feet. Before she could even turn to see if Adrien needed help, the boy model lightly landed just next to her with just as much grace, if not more. She suddenly had a vague impression of a cat, the same lithe and elegance. Then she shook her head. First a chipmunk, then a cat. Next, she'll be comparing him to rooster.

Adrien smiled at her, impressed. He held out his arm to her. "Shall we go?"

Heart skipping a beat at the gesture, she timidly took the offered arm.

"Let's go."

* * *

Adrien mentally cursed himself; he'd seen the surprise in her eyes when he had offered his arm. She probably thought that he was old fashioned now. Was there such thing as being too much of a gentleman? As Chat, he had mainly abandoned that gentlemanly attitude in favor of a more flirty one, but maybe being too polite was a little offensive in some way. It probably implied that he thought she was fragile, which was the last thing that he thought of her. Of course, she hadn't said anything about it during their short walk to the park, but with Ladybug he couldn't help but wonder.

Not for the first time, he wondered if she could see his nervousness. She had that effect sometimes, seeming to know more than she let on. More often than not, that actually was the case. Not in that annoying bragging way that some people seemed to do, but more of a genuine modest kind of way. It was nice.

When she released his arm when they arrived at the park he couldn't help but miss her touch. The spot where she had held him felt somewhat empty now, and he briefly wondered if he could offer his arm to her once again when they left.

Unsurprisingly, they were alone at the park. Although it was night, the full moon illuminated the park, giving more than enough light to chase away the dark. It was a familiar sight; he'd been here more times than he could count with Ladybug as Chat, either to meetup for patrols or as a place to hangout before returning to their homes for the night. Ever since their statue was erected in their honor, he and Ladybug often used the statue as their meeting point for the start and end of their patrols.

"It's kind of embarrassing if you stare at our statue for so long," Ladybug joked. With a start, he realized that he had unconsciously drifted closer to the statue. He also noticed that she used "our" instead of "my" He blushed, subtly tilting his head down to create a shadow over his face.

"Sorry, I was jus thinking," he said sheepishly. "It's amazing what you do."

"What Chat and I do," she corrected, almost automatically, as she came to stand next to him. "Chat and I are a team."

"Yeah, of course." Adrien smiled. He slightly turned to face her and was taken aback. No matter how many times he saw her under the moon, she always seemed to amaze him each and every time. The fact that she was dressed up and wearing makeup only accentuated her beauty. Not that she needed makeup. Although he was a model, he always secretly felt slightly inferior to her.

"What do you really think of Chat?" He asked, turning to face the statue once again. Maybe one day Adrien can look back on this statue, remembering the good old days. Hopefully, by that time, he'd actually get somewhere with his feelings with her.

Hopefully.

"Chat?" Ladybug asked. She glanced at him curiously. "That's the second time you brought him up now. Do you like him?" Then, incredulously, "Are you gay?"

"What? No!" Adrien said quickly, shaking his head. Then he stopped and grinned. "Although if I were, he'd be on the top of my list."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "I'll be sure to let him know."

"Well? You still didn't answer my question."

"Chat is...special. He's my partner and I would trust him with my life any day of the week."

"But you don't trust that he's not a playboy?" Adrien asked. Ladybug shook her head.

"It's not like that exactly. I'm sure he'll be a faithful boyfriend to whoever he ends up with, but it's hard to take him seriously since he's flirting with me all the time. It's hard to take _any_ flirt seriously if that's all they seem to do around you. It just became habit, I guess, to ignore them."

Adrien fell silent at this. He felt...hurt? Disappointed? Probably the latter, but more so at himself than anything. He knew that there must have been a reason for Ladybug to casually reject him every time he jokingly tried something, but he'd always told himself that there must have been a good reason. That she'll take him seriously one day. As model, he wasn't used to chasing girls; what he was used to was girls chasing _him_. The times that he experimented with chasing girls was with flirting, and they had always seemed to liked it. In fact, Ladybug was the first to ignore him. He didn't know how to feel about that.

"What if he told you that he was serious?" Adrien finally asked. "And that from the beginning, he only liked you?"

This time, it was Ladybug who fell silent. Looking at the statue of herself and Chat, she seemed lost in thought and her eyes softened for a second. Then her brows pulled together into a slight frown.

"I...I don't know," she said, lowering her gaze. Stepping forward, she reached out to lightly trail her fingertips along the base of the statue. "I've never thought about that. I do know that I don't want to risk our friendship. If Chat and I do, um, _date_ then there's a chance that we'll break up. Then we'll never be able to go back to how it was before."

"What if you two don't break up? What if it turns into something great? Something perfect?"

"And if it doesn't?" Ladybug asked, turning to face him. "There are too many 'if's' in this. I just want to play it safe, without risking our friendship."

He didn't have an answer to that. He'd always assumed that it would work out. Just confessing had been his only goal; breaking up never even crossed his mind.

"Besides," she turned away again. "That's not the only reason."

"What other reason is there?" Adrien asked, surprised. Dread filled his stomach. She wasn't dating someone already, was she?

Ladybug mumbled something under her breath, her words too low for him to hear. She seemed to be blushing, but he wasn't sure. He leaned forward slightly.

"What?"

"I…" Ladybug looked down, refusing to meet his gaze. "I-I like someone already…"

His heart dropped. "What?"

She pouted just slightly, refusing to repeat herself.

She liked someone already? Adrien swallowed dryly, trying to control his disappointment. It felt as if someone had taken a hold of his heart, squeezing it. Of course, he'd thought of that possibility a handful of times in the past, but he'd never entertained the possibility that it was true. Or rather, he was too afraid to consider it. But now that Ladybug herself had admitted it, there was no more running from the idea.

Half of him wanted to curl up in a ball in a corner somewhere, while the other half was sorely tempted to excuse himself for the night, away from Ladybug and away from being Adrien. Nightly runs as Chat had become his usual method for stress relief and just a way to forget his troubles, and heaven knows he needs a (legal) way to forget what he just heard right now.

"Adrien?" She was looking at him again. Her eyes were filled with worry. "Are you okay?"

He forced out a smile. "I'm fine. Just surprised. I didn't think that Ladybug had a love interest. Do I know this lucky person?"

She hesitated. He was certain that she was blushing now, and felt a sudden spark of jealousy at this. This person must be dang special to make her blush like this when he couldn't. "Well…"

"Actually," he held up his hand, stopping her. "Don't tell me." I don't trust myself to not hunt the person down, he added silently.

Ladybug looked surprised, even mildly disappointed. But she didn't object and nodded slightly. She looked away again at the statue, without a doubt trying to get her blush under control.

"How about we go sit at the fountain?" He asked, changing the subject. "It's better than standing here all night."

Ladybug nodded, rubbing her arms absentmindedly.

"Are you cold?" Adrien asked suddenly, taking notice of the action. He knew that while transformed, temperature didn't affect them as much as it normally did in order for them to work in all sorts of weather. But he also suspected that it was mainly due to the magical nature of their clothing, and Ladybug was in a sleeveless dress.

"I-I'm fine." She smiled at him reassuringly, but he was already shrugging off his coat. "Really, it's okay."

"I don't want you to catch a cold." He held out his coat to her. "Besides, I'm the one who asked you to come outside with me. Here."

"I'm not cold," she protested. But already, he could see her resistance faltering.

"You're wearing a sleeveless dress. I still have a long sleeve shirt on," he said. When she still hesitated, he joked, "If you don't take the coat, I'll offer you my shirt instead."

At this, she pouted and took the coat from his arms, draping it over her shoulders for a second before changing her mind and carefully putting it on. The coat was only slightly big on her, with the sleeves nearly reaching past her thumbs. Even without buttoning it up, the coat covered most of her torso. In short, she looked adorable.

She made a face at him.

"Happy?"

He grinned. "Yes."

* * *

This coat is probably worth more than my whole room, Marinette thought warily. Not for the first time that night, she casually glanced down to check that she hadn't accidentally dirtied it in someway. Trying to come up with the money to pay Adrien back for a dirtied coat would be a nightmare, and knowing her, she'd probably end up dirtying it in one way or another by the end of the night.

It's been awhile since they had sat down at the fountain now. She wasn't sure exactly how long it had been; she didn't have a watch and didn't ask when Adrien periodically glanced at his own to keep track of time. A growing part of her dreaded the approaching stroke of midnight, as it would mean leaving the peace of the park together and returning to the mansion. According to Adrien, contest results wouldn't be out until right before midnight because a previous year featured an angry contestant who attacked the winner, and his father would rather leave the fighting outside this time.

The two had talked about all sorts of topics, from Adrien's daily life (she didn't mention that she already had his schedule memorized) to whether being a butler to a rich family is a better job than owning a small business.

"Everything's routine and if you work well, you'd be treated well. Not to mention free room and board at a mansion without the normal burdens of being rich," Adrien argued.

"Everything is basically routine at a business too, you know," Marinette pointed out. "Butlers have to know how to deal with unexpected situations sometimes. What if a burglar broke in?"

"An Agreste butler who can't even handle a simple break in isn't worth his salt," Adrien countered. He grinned. "I think I'd be a great butler. I can handle myself pretty well."

"A great butler by what standard?"

"My own," he replied easily. "I'll simply be one heck of a butler."

"It's not that easy finding a job as a butler, you know. How much would you even charge? Or are you so great that you'll just take their souls as payment?"

Adrien shrugged. "It seems that it'd be good pay. Besides, I think I have the look down already. Did you see my outfit for tonight? A few adjustments and it'll be perfect."

"Butlers don't wear outfits worth a small fortune."

" _Rich_ butlers might."

"So you're a rich butler now?" Marinette teased.

"You have to look rich to serve the rich," Adrien said with a grin. "But speaking of outfits, should we head back? It'll be midnight soon. Results should be coming out in a bit."

He stood, offering his hand to her.

"Oh...Yeah, sure. Let's go." Disappointed, she took his hand and he pulled her up. She was hoping to spend more time with him; the past hour or so seemed to have flown by in a blink of an eye. Adrien seemed to catch on to her reluctance.

Giving her a curious look, he asked, "Do you not want to go?"

Marinette lightly blushed. Was she that obvious?

"Not really," she admitted.

"Do you want to go home then?"

"Well—"

 _Beep beep_

Surprised, she touched her earrings in shock. She'd completely forgotten about Tikki's warning about not being able to stay transformed for too long until now; how long had she been transformed? Rather than that, how was she going to explain this to Adrien? Would it be too rude to suddenly leave?

Adrien's eyebrows drew together into a frown. "You have to go?"

"Y-Yeah, sorry…" Marinette slightly bowed her head apologetically. It was so close to midnight too, she thought bitterly. Another half hour and everything would have been perfect.

His disappointment matched her own. "Already? But you didn't use your powers yet."

"I'm—how do you know about that?"

"Huh?" Adrien cocked his head to the side. "How do I know what?"

"You said, 'But you didn't use your powers yet'" she quoted. "How do you know that using my powers has something to do with having to leave?"

"Er, did I say that?" Adrien forced out a laugh. "You probably heard me wrong."

"No I didn't.," she argued. "I heard you clearly."

"Well, I mean, I probably read about it online or something. Ladyblog, and stuff."

"It's not on the Ladyblog. Even Alya doesn't know about that yet."

"I'm a huge fan."

"Really." She raised her eyebrow, unconvinced.

"It's not that hard to guess, you know," he tried. "You leave the scene within minutes after each attack."

"Maybe I'm just a very busy person."

"You've been here for the past few hours, but you can't spare a few minutes after an attack? Don't you have a patrol or something to do?"

"...Chat's covering for me tonight."

Adrien smiled amusedly. "Really."

"Yes, really. Do you doubt me?" Marinette challenged. Her earrings beeped again.

"Maybe." He crossed his arms, his smile broadening. "So you're telling me that Chat's out there, right now, doing a patrol?"

"Well—I don't know where exactly he is right now but yeah, probably."

"You told him to cover for you tonight?"

"He...knows." Suddenly, she felt very uncertain. He seemed too confident, too sure of himself. Not to mention, he seemed to be having a lot of fun with these questions, almost as if he knew something she didn't.

"Why all these questions?" She asked, straightening her back in an attempt to regain control. "Are you interrogating me now?"

Adrien shrugged. He was grinning now. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"There are a lot of things I'm not telling you. You'll have to be specific," she countered. She crossed her arms as well, mirroring him.

"If there's a lot of things you didn't tell me, how can I be specific?"

"A girl has her secrets. Besides, you stopped me from telling you something earlier," she said. However, as soon as those words left her mouth, she immediately regretted them.

Adrien frowned. "The person you like?"

Her earrings gave another warning beep.

"Um…"

"So if I tell you I change my mind, will you tell me?"

"You know what, I _really_ have to go. Thank you for tonight. Bye!" She turned to leave.

"Wait," He grabbed her arm. "I changed my mind."

"Adrien, I have to go. Like, now," she said. She was all too aware of the time she had left now, and Adrien was probably the last person she wanted to detransform in front of. She pulled her arm out of his grip.

"Can't you just tell me?"

"Can't you let this go?"

"Probably not," he admitted.

"Why does it matter so much to you?" She asked, suddenly frustrated.

He didn't answer. The earrings beeped.

Two minutes left.

"I—" Her face was beet red now. "I like—"

"You like?"

"You, okay? I like you!" She couldn't bring herself to look at his face, instead choosing to study the ground. Even her ears felt burning hot.

"I like you," she repeated, quietly this time.

Silence.

It was almost as if the air itself had held its breath, waiting for a response. When none came, she swallowed dryly and slowly straightened.

She didn't dare meet his eyes. Strangely, the ground seemed to start to blur. "I—I'm going to go."

"Ladybug—"

"Goodnight, Adrien."

Then, she turned and ran.

Ignoring Adrien's shouts, she hitched up her dress to her knees and ran with all the swiftness that came with being Ladybug. Within seconds, she was at the edge of the park. Within a minute, she had disappeared into the streets of Paris.

A minute later, she was Marinette.

All but crashing into an alleyway wall, she just barely caught herself. Tikki was slightly less fortunate; the kwami lightly flew straight into the wall as she separated from the transformation and floated off in a daze.

"Marinette?" Tikki quickly shook her head, clearing it. "Are you okay?"

The kwami looked around for a couple seconds in confusion before a faint sob caught her attention. Looking down, she spotted the girl. Knees curled up to her chest and head down, she hugged herself tightly, her body shaking.

"Oh, Marinette…" Tikki flew down, gently landing on the girl's shoulder. She was clearly shaking now. Her nails dug into her arms.

Not sure what to do, Tikki could only pat her shoulder reassuringly.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the sobs grew quiet. Shuddering breaths turned to hiccups, and all was still.

"Are you okay?" Tikki asked quietly, breaking the silence. Marinette nodded, just slightly.

"Are you sure?" Again, another nod, more prominent than the last. She lifted her head. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Marinette slowly blinked, her eyes eventually focusing on her sleeves.

"I'm still wearing his coat," she commented tiredly, almost to herself.

"You were wearing that when you detransformed," Tikki confirmed, giving one final, gentle pat. "Are you ready to go?"

Marinette inclined her head in reply before standing, slightly wobbling in the process. She opened her bag.

"I'm sorry. You must be hungry. Here." She handed Tikki a cookie, to which the kwami took gratefully, although still worried. She continued to watch Marinette over her nibbling.

Marinette sighed, pulling out her phone. The screen shone brightly at her, momentarily blinding her and she rubbed her eyes in response. Hopefully, her parents hadn't checked on her yet; she'd have to sneak in as Ladybug later. She checked the time.

11:59PM.

It was a minute until midnight.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **ReallysorryabouthischapterI'llfixitlaterIswear**

 **I'll try to edit out the cheesiness/choppiness in this chapter so it's not so cliche later...**

 **Can you tell I've never described food before? Lol**

 **Sorry for the late update; as stated before, I only update this story every two updates for my more popular Miraculous story, Ceramics Class... . But I finally finished summer classes so I have a few weeks before fall classes start :)**

 **Thank you for reading!**

* * *

Ern Estine 13624 - Sorry for the late update! I hope this chapter was okay ;_;

SailorMew4 - Thank you for reading! Hopefully this chapter was cute too :)

Guest - Ahaha, I must confess, dance scenes are one of the ones I hate writing the most (I did try to put one in though; it just didn't work) Thank you for reading!

Guest (2) - Definitely gonna put that in a future one-shot, haha. Thank you for reading!

JEnathan - What can I say, I'm a fan :) Thank you for reading!

The-Right-Girl - Ah, thank you! Keeping characters in character is actually my biggest problem aside from keeping flow and logic; thank you for reading! I hope to improve eventually :)

mayuralover - Adventure time! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! :3

yellow 14 - Sorry for the late update! Hopefully this bigger chapter made up for it :)

Luiz4200 - I'm not done with the chapter as of typing this right now but I'm trying to work it in there! (I couldn't get it in ;_;) Thank you so much for reading!

missdragongirl- Thank you! Hopefully this chapter wasn't too much of a letdown; I actually really wanted to work that in somehow but I just couldn't . Maybe in the next chapter or so :) Thank you so much for reading!

Guest (3) - Thank you for reading! Here's an update :)

MyLittleBigBangSwitchAtOlympus - They're about to come together :) Thank you for reading!


	15. Chapter 14 (ExtraOptional)

**This chapter is actually optional/extra. It was only written cause I was curious about what went on after Adrien/Marinette left, so feel free to skip this. Seriously, you don't have to read this. Alya is supposed to give a breakdown of the important details on this chapter later to Marinette.**

 **Also, more OOCness than usual. Lol.**

* * *

"We _lost_ her?" Nino asked incredulously. "Where'd she go?"

It was the nearly the end of the dance now. The two had decided to follow Chloe through her dance with Adrien along the sidelines and, unfortunately, they had been so absorbed with not losing sight of the girl, that they didn't realize that the superhero following them was gone until now.

"Which part of 'lost' do you not understand?" Alya asked, exasperatedly. "She can't have gone far. We still need to find Adrien too. Should we split up?"

"Alya, if we split up now, I'll probably never see you again tonight. You're like a good head shorter than most of the people here."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Alya replied, rolling her eyes. "But we can't just do nothing; I'll strangle both of them myself if they don't end up meeting tonight."

"Why is it so important that they meet tonight? We can just tell Adrien about Chloe another time. If we need Ladybug to back up our claims then you can record her doing so. You practically stalk her anyways."

"I don't stalk her," Alya protested.

"Uh huh. Sure you don't."

"I just...follow what she does."

"You have a whole blog dedicated to her."

"That's called admiring. Besides, if I stalked her, then I would have her whole schedule memorized."

"Knowing you, you probably do," Nino said, rolling his eyes. "Anyways, let's go. I think the song is ending soon."

"Sure, whatever you say, music guy."

"What's the plan, anyways?" Nino asked, ignoring her newfound nickname for him. "No one's going to believe us when we accuse Chloe. Not in this crowd, anyways. To them, we're just kids while she's the daughter of the mayor of Paris. Do you have proof?"

"Ladybug is proof. She can testify."

"Testify? Wouldn't it be better if it was Marinette doing the testifying? She's stronger than you think, y'know."

"I know Marinette's strong."

"Then why can't she testify instead?"

"Because Ladybug and Adrien need to be together _tonight_."

Nino threw up his hands in exasperation. "You're not making any sense. Are you trying to give Marinette competition? I thought you wanted _her_ to be with Adrien, not Ladybug."

"It's complicated."

Nino groaned. "Girls."

"Oh shush. I know what I'm doing. Trust me."

"You literally accused Ladybug of wrecking Marinette's dress earlier."

"That was part of my plan."

" _Plan_?" Nino echoed in disbelief. "Alya, I honestly thought that you went _crazy_. I've never seen you act like that before. Never. Did you have some alcohol or something?"

"I'm sober, Nino."

"Are you actually Alya then?"

"I swear on my blogs that I'm Alya. All eleven of them."

"All _eleven_? What do you have _eleven_ blogs?"

"It's my social life!"

"Your obsession, you mean," he corrected.

Alya threw up her hands. "There's nothing wrong with having a big online presence!"

Nino grinned. "Never said there was anything wrong with it."

"Mhm."

"Seriously, we're in middle school, how the heck are you running all that?"

Alya snorted. "Talent."

"Riiight. Anyways, let's get moving. The song ended a bit ago."

"What?!" To her alarm, she noticed that it was true. Partners were either just leaving the dance floor, or switching. The new song had already started, the opening of the new piece just underway. "Nino!"

"Dude, calm down, I can see Chloe's hair. She's kinda hard to miss, y'kno—" He yelped, his arm being dragged away by Alya already.

"We have to catch her before they start dancing again! And then I'll expose her deed on my blogs—all _eleven_ of them."

"Dude, I think you can get sued for that. And even if you can't, Chloe will find a way to get you sued anyways. Defamation, man."

"She defames _herself_. Chloe!" Alya called out angrily. Although they were still a distance away from the girl in question, they were close enough to just be heard over the music and chatter of the fellow party attendees.

At the mention of her name, the blond girl turned, her ponytail bouncing. At the sight of the two, Chloe rolled her eyes before turning again. She seemed to snap something at a fellow dancer before turning away from both them and the man, melting away into the crowd within seconds. If she wasn't so irritated at Chloe at the moment, Alya would have almost been impressed, given the sheer amount of petticoat that must be under that dress. Not to mention the ridiculous height of the heels the wannabe princess must be wearing.

Of course, the very last glimpse that the two caught of the girl was her hand held up unmistakably towards them. The few people around them who happened to catch sight of the gesture frowned disapprovingly.

"Wow. Totally didn't see that coming at all," Nino said, rolling his eyes. "Why don't you just, I dunno, grab her next time?"

"Slipped my mind," Alya replied, fuming. "I'm _so_ going to wring her scrawny little chicken neck once I get my hands on that girl."

"Uh huh. Violence isn't the answer to everything."

"Remind me after I strangle her. Where did she even _go_?"

"Beats me." Nino shrugged. "She's probably been here like a million times already since she was a kid. We'll never catch her."

"We're not giving up that easily. C'mon Nino, she has to come out eventually. A princess with a head that big can't possibly stay away from the dance floor that long."

"If you say so. But I doubt we'll be able to catch her if we stay on the sidelines the whole time."

"Which is why _we_ are going to _her_."

"Say what?"

Without answering, Alya grabbed his arm, pulling the boy onto the dance floor. Slipping her hand into his, she focused on keeping her eyes determinedly fixed to the dancers around them as she (clumsily) guided them onto the dance floor as she ignored the sudden warmth in her right hand.

"Alya, what are you _doing_?" Nino asked in surprise, his voice barely rising over the music. His eyes widened further as she rested her other hand on his right shoulder.

"Luring her out. She'll be expecting us in the sidelines since she wouldn't expect us to know how to dance. Now put your hand on my back so you'll stop looking so clueless."

"But I _am_ clueless and we _don't_ know how to dance," Nino protested. Despite his words, he complied. Once again, she ignored the sudden tingles from his touch.

"Oh come on. It's just dancing. How hard can it be?"

"Alya, I don't think we're even dancing to the right rhythm."

"Then guide us into the right rhythm, music guy."

Nino groaned. "Do you even know the steps?"

"No."

" _Alya_."

"Just take big, slow steps. Make it look waltzy, That's basically what waltz is like, right?" Alya said, looking over her shoulder as she guided them around the dance floor. Despite her words, she was more than aware of just how out of place they seemed. Not only were they significantly younger than most of the other guests, but they were also by far the most clueless looking pair on the floor, with them narrowly missing crashing into fellow dancers with every move they made.

"I'm pretty sure you just offended everyone who actually knows how to waltz," Nino sighed. "Man, sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with you."

"Because I'm cool and you love me?" Alya suggested. Her cheeks slightly flushed with warmth as the last part slipped out. But as quickly as she felt it, she pushed it aside. There were more important matters to deal with.

Nino rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You still didn't answer me."

"Huh?"

"Just _what_ is your plan?" Nino asked, exasperated.

"Catch Chloe and—"

"Without Ladybug?" Nino asked, raising an eyebrow. "Don't forget that no one will believe us."

"I—" Alya frowned. "Ah."

Nino laughed. "Finally remembered, huh?"

"Argh, where did that girl _go_? I swear, she's never where she needs to be."

"I dunno, she's pretty good at showing up when akumas show up. Give her some credit, man. But speaking of Ladybug, what do you want her to do, anyways?"

"What do you mean?"

"First, you go crazy on Ladybug. Then you get a major mood swing and decide to play matchmaker and pair her up with Adrien which is completely unlike you. Now you're all set on confronting Chloe with Ladybug as proof after we lose Ladybug. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you were losing your mind. What gives?"

"I…" Alya faltered. A nearby couple swore as they veered themselves away from the two.

"You…?"

"Have you ever thought that there was something...off? About Marinette, I mean."

Nino groaned. "Is that what this is all about?"

"What?"

He smiled wearily. "I was wondering what it was this time."

"What do you mean _this time_?"

"Y'know how you always tend to get a bit carried away whenever you get these kinds of ideas? That."

"I don't get carried away," Alya protested. Nino gave her a look. "...that much."

"Remember when you thought that Chloe was Ladybug and got suspended over it?"

"That was a one time mistake!"

"How about when you sent Marinette on a date with a headset so you could guide her through it?"

"Adrien literally did the exact same thing with you."

"What about when you tried to expose Ladybug's identity by ripping off her mask?"

"Okay, but I was akumatized back then. When you were akumatized, you tried to send every adult in Paris to space."

" _The_ _point is_ , you tend to get carried away sometimes when you get an idea into your head and then you don't think things through," Nino said patiently. His grip on her hand softened. "Don't get me wrong; I wanna help Marinette just as much as you. I'm just saying you should relax a little, you know what I mean? Enjoy tonight. Chloe ruined this night for Marinette already, don't let her ruin it for you too."

Alya pressed her lips together into a thin line, slightly chewing on the inside of her cheek. She knew that she acted a little irrationally. She knew that she had rushed into things more than once tonight without thinking things through. Nino was right. But how was she supposed to relax when Chloe was here, Marinette was Ladybug, and it was the prime time to get two of her favorite idiots together? She knew that Marinette liked Adrien, and she knew that Adrien idolized Ladybug (which, honestly, wasn't any more of a secret than Marinette's crush on Adrien was) so everything was finally _perfect_. Literally, the only thing between this mess and a happy ending is exposing Chloe and getting the two idiots together.

She felt Nino lightly squeeze her hand.

"Something else is bothering you."

"Huh?" They turned. Another couple grumbled angrily, throwing dirty looks at the pair.

"You're still doing that face you make when something's bothering you. You think I wouldn't notice?" He rolled his eyes but grinned. "Gimme some credit, Al."

"I don't make a face when something's bothering me," she protested.

"You're biting your right cheek. You always bite your right cheek when something's bothering you. Do you hate your right cheek or something?"

"I don't—" Alya frowned. Now that she actually thought about it... "How do you know that?"

"Because you always do the same thing when you're bothered."

"But you can't really see when someone is biting their cheek," Alya said. "It's hardly noticeable."

"Hardly. But I still noticed it," Nino said cheekily. "I know a lot of things about you, Al. You'd be surprised."

"Oh yeah?" She reflected his smile. Her palms started to sweat. "Like what?"

"I know that you tried wearing a little bit of makeup to school earlier this week to see if anyone would notice. But then you didn't wear it again the next day cause you didn't think anyone noticed."

Alya turned red, her head slightly tilted downward. "Did not."

"Mhm. And I'm sure you were born with brown eyeliner."

"Why were you looking at my eyes, anyways?" Alya countered, forcing herself to meet his eyes. This time, it was Nino who looked away.

"I dunno. I just noticed it. Is that a crime?"

"Even Marinette didn't notice it."

"Coincidence."

Alya narrowed her eyes. As an aspiring reporter, she knew when something wasn't right with a story. Just like how she knew something wasn't right with Ladybug's story about her dress, she knew there was something off with what Nino was telling her. And if her suspicions were correct for a second time tonight…

"Annnnd the song's ending. You wanna stop tormenting these poor people and get off the floor?" Nino asked, nodding at the other dancers. By now, most of the other dancers had already learned to keep a small distance from the pair after one too many near collisions.

Alya sighed. No. It was better to keep her hopes down.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Nino breathed a sigh of relief as he released her hand. She noticed him subtly wipe his hand on his pants right after he did so. She wasn't _that_ sweaty, was she? "Thank goodness. There's this lady over there who's been silently judging us and I dunno how much more of that I could take."

"Oh? Should we keep dancing then?" Alya teased as they left the dance floor.

"Alya, I know you like attention, but snide remarks about how we can't waltz to save our lives doesn't seem like the good kind of attention."

"Were there really snide remarks?" She asked, a little worriedly. She didn't think that they were _that_ bad.

"Yeah. They came from me," Nino replied. Alya lightly punched him in the shoulder.

"It wasn't that bad."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Al."

"Pardon me," a new voice spoke up, followed by a light tap on Alya's shoulder. As she turned, Nino drew a sharp breath.

The woman did a shallow courtesy, her bubblegum pink ballgown slightly bouncing as she did so. Her bright pink lips stretched into a polite smile. "Ladybug's friends?"

"You!" Alya gasped. The woman smiled.

"'You' works, I suppose. But I usually go by Angelica."

"Angelica?" If her memory served her right, this would be the sister of that other woman from earlier, Eliza. But like Eliza's name, Angelica's name didn't ring any bells in her head.

"You're the lady who was judging us throughout the dance," Nino blurted out. At this, At this, Angelica laughed.

"Was that what it looked like?"

"Were you _not_?"

Angelica shrugged a little, a grin still on her face. "A little, perhaps. But that wasn't my main intention. I was trying to catch you two once the dance ended."

"Why?" Alya asked.

"You two seemed to know Ladybug. She mentioned that she was separated from her friends earlier," Angelica explained. "I thought that you'd like to know that she's fine now. I set her up with that Agreste boy a little while ago; they should be together right now actually."

"Are you serious?" Alya asked, a smile breaking out onto her face.

"As the plague," Angelica assured. "I made absolutely sure that they got together. Was that your goal?"

"It's been her top priority all night," Nino said, shaking his head. "Dunno why though."

"I'm sure she has her reasons," Angelica said. "People usually mean well when they push two people together. Even at their own expense."

"At their own expense…?" Alsa asked. But Angelica shook her head.

"Nevermind that. Just me thinking. So, are you two here as friends, or…?"

"Friends," Alya said quickly. Nino stayed silent.

"Oh?" Angelica said. She held her fan to her face. "You two seem like close friends then. Have you two known each other long?"

"Not too long?" Alya and Nino glanced at each other. "About a year," Nino clarified.

"Huh. Anyways, that's all I wanted to let you two know. I'm sorry for interrupting," Angelica smiled. "Do let me know if you need me for anything tonight. I'm always happy to help."

"Who _are_ you?" Alya blurted out. "You're not just a model, right?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, her smile still fixated on her face. "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes," Alya replied bluntly. "No normal model or designer could get away with half the things you've pulled today if you're telling the truth."

"I suppose you're right," Angelica laughed. "But to be fair, I wasn't keeping it a secret. Let's just say my father has power."

"Your father has power and you didn't grow up a brat? That's a first," Alya said before she could stop herself. Luckily, Angelica didn't seem at all offended. On the contrary, she laughed.

"Don't tell me you met the mayor's daughter too?"

"Met her? We're stuck in the same class as her," Nino groaned. "I swear she's responsible for at least half the akumas in the city. Our class has the highest rate for akumatization in the city right now. Almost everyone has been akumatized before."

"Yeah," Alya agreed, nodding. "I think only two people haven't been akumatized in our class yet, Marinette and…"

 _"What's with all these photos of Adrien?"_

 _"Well..." Alya said, swiping through the photos on her phone. "with a mask and a costume, doesn't he look like Cat Noir?" *_

"...Adrien," Alya muttered, almost to herself. "Adrien's never been akumatized either."

"Yeah, weird huh? He's known Chloe the longest too. Dude's probably too used to her to be bothered," Nino said. "Trust me, if he can handle Chloe, he can handle _anything_. I can count how many times he's gotten mad on one hand."

"Sounds like a nice boy. He certainly seemed so when I met him."

"Yeah, dude must have been thrilled to see Ladybug. He's always been the biggest fan. Aside from Alya, of course," Nino added. "Right, Alya?"

"The biggest Ladybug fan...of course…" Alya muttered. "And he's also never there when the akumas attack, just like Marinette…"

"Uh, yeah. Nice guy but rotten luck," Nino chuckled. "He'd always get caught up in the attack in one way or another. It makes you wonder how he and Chloe grew up together and turn out so different."

"Different people grow up differently. But I'm glad he didn't turn out like that _girl_ ," Angelica said, frowning slightly.

"Paris would be doomed if there was another Chloe," Nino agreed. "Luckily he's the exact opposite. Nicest guy I know in fact."

"Still, it's not good to be nice for too long. Holding things in like that tend to lead to worse things," Angelica mused, absentmindedly twirling her fan in her hands. "Well, anyways, I must be off. I have some final things to see to tonight. It was nice meeting you…?"

"Ah! I'm Nino, er, ma'am," he said hurriedly, elbowing Alya.

Jolting out of her thoughts, Alya started at the sudden touch. Smiling, she nodded her head a fraction of an angle. "I'm Alya. It was nice meeting you."

Angelica smiled. "Nino and Alya. I'll remember that. I'll see you two around then."

"Yeah, see you," Nino replied with a grin. He held the grin until after Angelica nodded one final time in farewell and gracefully spun on her heels, swishing the folds of her pink dress around her ankles. Then he turned, his grin slipping off as he faced Alya.

"What's up?"

She shrugged halfheartedly. There wasn't really a point in lying; Nino knew her as well as she knew him. Nino rolled his eyes and poked her right cheek.

"Is it something I needa be worried about?"

Alya shook her head.

"Should I know about it?" Another shake. "Are you gonna tell me if I ask?"

At this, Alya hesitated.

"Have you noticed anything...off? About Adrien?"

"Adrien?" Nino looked at her exasperatedly. "Al, no. You gotta stop suspecting everyone. You sure you didn't have anything to drink?"

"Nino, I'm sober. I'm like...ninety percent sure. But isn't it weird? Adrien has _never_ been akumatized. And like you said, he's known Chloe the longest. Even he should have reached his limit by now at least once."

"Marinette has never been akumatized either," he pointed out. "Are you gonna suspect her too now?"

I don't need to, Alya thought dryly. "Yeah, but have you ever actually seen him around when there's an akuma attack?"

"He's been attacked before, Al. What are you even suggesting?"

Alya chewed her cheek. Looking around, she looped her around through Nino's, dragging him closer to the wall. Once partially hidden from view behind one of the marble columns flanked on both sides with some kind of snow white flowery plants, she released his arm and placed both hands upon his shoulders.

"Nino, how well can you keep a secret?"

"Uh...What?"

"Can you keep a secret?" She asked, refusing to break her gaze.

"Y-Yeah. Why what's up?"

"Marinette's Ladybug."

Nino stared at Alya, Then he laughed, much to Alya's chagrin.

"Al, is why you've been so weird? Man, and here I thought it was something I should be worried about."

"I'm _serious_."

"Marinette. Our Marinette?" Nino smiled at her, clearly unbelieving.

"Do you know another Marinette?" Alya huffed, crossing her arms. "Think about it, Nino. She's never seen with Ladybug and she's always gone at random times when akumas attack. That time when Mylène was akumatized and the school was completely trapped? How do you suppose Ladybug and Chat Noir got in unless they were already inside when the attack happened?"

"Or, they noticed the school was trapped in a pink slime and found a way to break in. Chat Noir does have the ability to break things, y'know."

"Nino, Chat Noir himself said that the pink slime was indestructible," Alya said. "He wouldn't lie about that. That means that Chat and Ladybug go to our school."

"Alya, I know that we both know how amazing Marinette is, but for her to be Ladybug? Just listen to yourself—you're accusing your best friend of being a superhero. If she was Ladybug, I'm pretty sure she would have told you by now. You run the Ladyblog for crying out loud."

"I don't know," Alya admitted. "But I'm certain that she's Ladybug. Even if she isn't Ladybug, she would have said something about Ladybug asking for a dress. And I _know_ Marinette. She would not have made a similar dress to her own for someone else to the ball, Ladybug or not. Plus, after I started suspecting it, I noticed Ladybug having pretty much all of Marinette's habits."

"Okay, fine. I'll humor you. Suppose Marinette's Ladybug. Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I think Adrien's Chat Noir."

"Alya—"

She held up a finger, silencing him. "I _think_. But you know him better than I do."

"Yeah, and I think this is crazy, even for you," Nino replied, frowning.

Alya smiled triumphantly. She knew that frown.

"But you agree that there's some stuff that's off about Adrien?"

"Well...The guy does—no. Alya, his dad would never let him."

"Who said his dad knew? You said it yourself that he's never there when the akuma attacks. Suppose he just uses the excuse of being attacked by the akuma so he could turn into Chat. You've never seen Adrien in the same room as Chat, either, have you?"

"No, but…"

"Imagine Adrien in Chat Noir's outfit and a mask. Right now."

Nino started to protest, only to stop. His frown deepened.

"Huh."

"See? You can't deny that there's some resemblance. And if you imagine Marinette in Ladybug's outfit, she's either the best candidate for Ladybug's twin, or she _is_ Ladybug. And as far as I know, Marinette doesn't have a twin."

"Alright, fine. Suppose you're right. Why are you telling me this?"

"Well, partly to see if you agreed with me on Adrien since you know him better. But also because if all this is true, then we have to do something."

" _Do something_? Alya, if they wanted us to know then they would have told us. Besides, what are we even supposed to do? Don't tell me you're planning on fighting akumas with them."

"Nino," Alya said patiently. "Would you say that Adrien has a small crush on Ladybug?"

"Small? You do realize that the dude practically stalks the Ladyblog, right?"

"What about Marinette? Would you say that she has a crush on Adrien?"

"You mean her obsession?" Nino laughed. "I swear, I'm pretty sure that Adrien still thinks that she dislikes him a bit with how she acts around him."

"Exactly!" Alya snapped her fingers. "And yet, Ladybug doesn't act that way with Chat Noir! What does that tell you?"

"That...she got over her awkwardness?"

Alya groaned. "She literally walked into a wall yesterday after Adrien waved at her. You call that getting over her awkwardness?"

"Well…"

"Nino, no. It means that they don't know who each other are. Which means that they're idiots and we have to fix that."

"Is _that_ why you were so set on getting Ladybug and Adrien together?"

"Duh. With any luck, they'll stop being idiots tonight and realize that they're meant for each other. Wanna bet on them coming to school as a couple tomorrow?"

"Alya, do you remember the last time you played matchmaker? You and I ended up trapped for hours as an akuma went on a rampage."

"That akuma attack was totally not my fault. And besides, that day wasn't a complete disaster. You got your feelings about Marinette all sorted out in the end. Plus, we got to spend time together, right?"

"Right…" Nino muttered, his gaze wandering off to the side. He scratched the back of his neck. "Anyways, we shouldn't talk about this so much here. There might be people listening, y'know?"

"No one is listening," Alya said confidently.

"Still. We can talk about this later, Al. Let's go get some food or something; I'm starving."

"Fine, fine. If you insist," Alya said jokingly. To be honest, she was pretty hungry as well, Nino's reminder only amplified the fact. "I think I saw some smoked salmon earlier near the entrance."

"Salmon? At a party like this, you gotta have seafood. Salmon does _not_ count as seafood."

"Excuse me? Salmon is delicious. You clearly have not had any good salmon."

"Alya, they have oyster. C'mon, we gotta get the oysters first."

"I don't like oyster," she protested.

"You _heathen_."

With that, the two walked off, bickering the whole way. Neither of them noticed the person leaning against the same marble column, much less the following smile. Placing their empty glass on butler's tray, the person left, walking in the opposite direction of the two teenagers.

* * *

"So you're telling me that I should _not_ take off my heels?"

"Your feet can't be hurting that bad," Nino said, not even bothering to turn to look at her. Like almost all of the other people in the entrance hall, they faced the staircase. Behind them, the doors of the mansion were propped as wide as they would go, the guests who were just now gathering spilling out into the courtyard.

It was nearly midnight. Although a fair amount of people had left already, most people stayed, either waiting to hear contest results or to simply stick around because of a lack of anything better to do. They haven't seen Angelica since she had last talked to them, but to be fair, they were mainly focused on either chasing after various plates of food or Chloe who somehow managed to escape them every time. She wasn't even sure if the woman was still at the party, to be honest.

" _You_ can try wearing three and a half inch heels for more than three hours and tell me it doesn't hurt that bad," Alya retorted, shifting her weight back onto her left foot for the third time. She could have sworn she felt a hint of blood from the darn shoes.

Nino sighed. He held out his hand.

Alya looked at it in confusion.

"I'll hold onto them for you."

"You'll hold onto my...what?"

"Your shoes, duh." He didn't look at her. "Give them to me."

"Are you serious?" Despite herself, Alya began to blush. She wasn't completely serious about taking her shoes off and she certainly didn't expect Nino to hold onto them. She'd been prancing around all over the place for the past hours in these shoes, what if they _smelled_?

"Yeah." He was scratching the back of his neck again, his gaze still averted.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Positive?"

"Al, take off your shoes."

"You know what I just realized?" Alya said, slightly bending over to undo the cursed straps on her heels. "They're announcing the contest results but none of us were required to give our name or anything anywhere. Isn't that weird?"

"Oh, trust me, they have their ways."

"Their ways?" Dear lord, there is probably no higher bliss than taking off heels after a long night. She should have probably tried wearing heels for longer than an hour beforehand next time. She shifted her weight experimentally, her foot getting used to a flat surface once more, before taking off the other shoe.

"They have scouts," Nino explained, grinning at her. "The Adrien's dad is sneaky like that. They come disguised as fellow guests, but really, they note down dresses that have caught their eyes. If a dress catches enough attention, a scout will approach the person and find out their name."

"Another thing that Adrien told you?"

"I might have asked him the same question," Nino admitted, taking the offered shoes. He hooked his fingers through the back of the heels, allowing the shoes to dangle at his side.

"You know, usually only boyfriends do this for their girlfriends," Alya teased, poking him in the arm.

"I know."

"Oh." She didn't know how to respond to that. Nino now kept his gaze firmly fixated on the stairs. Alya followed suit.

Apparently, sometime during their conversation, Gabriel Agreste had taken his place at the top of the stairs. Various highly important people, if the upturn of their noses at the people below were anything to go by, surrounded the fashion designer in small talk. If Gabriel was there, it must be a few minutes until midnight. Nino had mentioned earlier that results would begin at midnight and not a moment earlier.

She idly wondered if "Ladybug" was having a good time.

"Think you got a shot at winning?" Nino asked.

"Nope. Marinette's original dress had a pretty good chance though. You?"

"Nah."

The silence between them stretched. Alya chewed on her right cheek.

"Hey, Nino?"

"Yeah?" He still didn't look at her.

"This is a totally random question, and I _completely_ understand if you don't want to answer or anything like that cause, you know, things can be weird and stuff plus the normal weird stuff so, like—"

"Al."

"—I also know you're probably not into things like this and stuff which is cool, but—"

"Alya."

"—I really wanted to ask you this for a while now. So, Nino." She took a deep breath and held it for a second. Her eyes met Nino's.

And her confidence wavered.

"Could you...help me with the chemistry homework?" She finished lamely. Mentally, she kicked herself.

"Oh...yeah. Yeah, sure." He shook his head briefly, then he smiled at her. Strangely, he looked disappointed. "This week's problem set, right?"

"Uh, takehome quiz, actually. We don't have a problem set this week."

"Right, right. Sorry, I'm a little out of it." Nino rubbed his eyes under his glasses with his free hand. "Long night."

"You can say that again," Alya agreed. But he wasn't looking at her. Again.

She was almost glad when the church bells began ringing. At least then both of them had an excuse to look forward then. By the time the last bell had died away, the crowd was silent, waiting.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," Gabriel began. He looked down from the bridge of his nose at the gathered crowd, not even the barest trace of a smile. Alya wondered if that was how Adrien would look like when he was older, if the older Adrien grew up just as haughty and grumpy as his father was.

"I'm sure you are all wondering about the results of tonight's contest. As you all are aware, the grand prize winner will receive a sponsorship from me personally and will have up to a dozen original designs featured by the Agreste brand for a full month. The model will also receive a modeling contract from my company. Now, without further ado," he took an offered cream colored enveloped.

"Here are our winners."

* * *

 *** Quotes from Season one, episode seven, "Lady Wifi" (English dub)**

 **Author's Note:**

 **I hope that wasn't too boring… I figured I might as well upload this since it was written already; I have no imagination until I'm actually writing, so I usually don't know what will happen in my stories until I write them lol**

 **Oh, also, next chapter(s) will be up before midnight today (PST). Trying to finish this story before my midterms.**


	16. Chapter 15

Something wasn't right.

He wasn't talking about how Ladybug had let Chat know that she was taking a break from patrols for the weekend and hung up on him before he even got a word in, or about how he was a _massive_ idiot for not replying to her confession right then and there before she got the wrong idea and ran off. And believe him, he tried to chase her, but his transformation into Chat delayed him just enough for him to lose sight of the girl.

No, it was something else. And it _bothered_ Adrien.

He sighed, pushing his french toast to the side before standing up. He didn't know that was bothering him so much. But something seemed off. Something he was overlooking. What that something was exactly, he wasn't sure. The only thing that he was sure of, however, was that he needed to answer Ladybug's confession. Properly.

Which would be a lot easier if she would answer his calls. Either she was ignoring them on purpose, or she's staying in her civilian form. He almost wished for an akuma attack.

"Adrien?"

"I'm not hungry," he said, without looking at Nathalie.

"Adrien, you've been like this all weekend. Any more of this behavior and I'll be forced to tell your father," she scolded.

He didn't reply. Instead, he picked up his school bag and slung it over his shoulder. It was still a little early for school; he'd probably be the first one there. He almost smiled at the idea. A year ago, he'd be ecstatic to be at school on a Monday morning. Today, he'd rather stay home just in case Ladybug called.

"Are you leaving already? There's quite some time before school begins, Adrien."

"Yeah."

"Very well. I'll inform Max," Nathaniel said, pushing up her glasses. "Before you leave, your father wanted me to ask you if you gave out any invitations to the contest."

"I might have, why?"

"He was curious about how Ladybug received an invitation. According to the people at the gate, she had entered with her own invitation. Of course, it is more likely that she had received an invitation from another method, or even had one given—"

"Wait, Ladybug had an invitation?" Adrien interrupted. "Her own?"

"It would appear so. Your father was rather interested in that as well and had me compile a list of the girls were given an invitation. Since we did not have an official guest list, this list is incomplete and is likely to be missing at least half of the girls."

"Can I have a copy?" Adrien asked, a grin spreading across his face.

"I-I suppose," Nathalie said, slightly taken aback by the sudden mood change. "I can go fetch a copy right now if you'd like."

"Yes, please. Thanks, Nathalie."

The woman inclined her head. "Of course."

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me," Adrien muttered, scratching yet another name off the list. He was quickly running out of names to cross out and the problem was, he hadn't even run into a single possible candidate for Ladybug yet. At this rate, he'll be out of names long before class started.

"What's that?" A voice interrupted his thoughts. He was slightly surprised, he didn't think that anyone else would arrive so early.

"A list of some people who were invited to the contest," he replied without giving Nino a glance. He tapped his pen to the list.

"Oh. Right. The contest." Nino made a face before slumping down, his chin in his hands. This, of course, caught Adrien's attention. That was uncharacteristic even for Nino.

"Something wrong?" No, it wasn't that name either. He knew that model and he distinctly remembered her waist length brown hair. He crossed out the name.

"Nah. It's just, well, y'know. Stuff," Nino said, making a vague gesture with his hands. "It's nothing."

"Are you sure? Even you're usually not like this on Monday mornings. Actually, I think this is the first time I've seen you here this early."

"Yeah. No. I mean, I don't know," Nino groaned and covered his face with his hands. "I think Alya almost confessed to me."

Adrien paused. "Almost?"

"Yeah, man. I mean, it had the whole confession vibe to it and everything, but she just ended up asking me for help on the chemistry quiz. It's like she chickened out last second."

"Huh. Are you sure she was going to confess?"

"Yeah. Well, I'm _pretty_ sure."

"Why don't you confess first then?" Adrien suggested.

"I wanted to. But it's just so hard, you know? Confessions are hard to deal with, man."

"Tell me about it," Adrien muttered. "I'm always here if you need my help."

"Yeah, I know. Anyways, enough about me," Nino said, sitting up. He shook his head as if to clear it. "What are you up to?" He inclined his head at the list, a curious look on his face.

"I'm looking for someone," Adrien said distractedly. There went another name.

"Someone?" Nino asked, smiling. "Someone as in Ladybug?"

"Uh, yeah. How'd you know?"

"Dude, you disappeared with her for most of the night. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

"Was it that obvious that both of us left at the same time?" Adrien asked sheepishly. He didn't think that it would be too obvious. Of course, he knew that people would notice one of Paris's most famed superheroes leaving with the son of Gabriel Agreste, but he didn't think that news would travel that much.

"Well, a little. That, and also someone told us. What was she like?"

"Beautiful," Adrien answered immediately. "And hard to find," he added.

"Hard to find, huh?" Nino smiled amusedly. He sat a little straighter. "Maybe you're thinking too hard."

"Thinking too hard?" Adrien echoed. "What do you mean?"

"I dunno. But that list you got, let me see it."

"What, this?" He handed it over. "It's not complete."

"Yeah, I can tell," Nino said, doing a quick scan. He pulled out a pencil from his bag and wrote something down on the list before passing it back. "You forgot some girls."

"I forgot some girls…?" Adrien looked at the newly added names in confusion. "But that's—"

"Some girls who went to the contest," Nino finished. Adrien frowned.

"Marinette and Alya? I don't remember seeing them there."

"Dude, you didn't even see me there. You went poof on us, remember? Speaking of going poof, what happened to your phone? Alya and I were trying to contact you all weekend. Did it break or something?" Nino asked.

"No, but I did lose it," Adrien admitted. "I thought that I left it in the car on Friday, but I couldn't find it there after that. Chloe was dragging me everywhere so I must have dropped it somewhere along the way."

"Huh. Well, long story short is that we're pretty sure that Chloe ruined Marinette's dress and we're gonna confront her today."

"Wait, what?" Adrien shook his head. "No, that can't be right. Chloe can be mean sometimes but she wouldn't do that."

Nino raised his eyebrow. "Really."

"Really. When was this, anyways?"

"Friday. Sometime before Marinette got home. But dude, only Chloe would do something like this, you know her."

"But it can't be Chloe," Adrien said. "I was with her all of afterschool, remember? And she was at school all day, even during lunch."

"That's…" Nino frowned. He pulled out his phone. "Huh. Hold up, I gotta text Alya about that."

"What happened to Marinette though? Did she have a spare dress?" He didn't believe that Chloe had ruined the girl's dress, but he did feel bad. He knew that Marinette had a talent for fashion, and although it seemed as if she didn't really like him at times, she was a nice girl. Even if she did think that he was someone like Chloe at one point.

"Uh...I don't know…?"

"You don't know? Didn't you see her at the contest?"

"You know what," Nino said, pulling out his phone. "That is a question for Alya."

"What?"

"What's a question for me?" Alya asked, walking into the room. She didn't look at Nino, only Adrien as she sat down.

"Adrien here was asking if Marinette had a spare dress to the ball," Nino replied. He too avoided looking directly at Alya, choosing to only turn his body partway to talk to her despite the normal smile on his face. It was weird, to say the least.

"Marinette?" Alya's tone instantly became guarded. "Uh, yeah. Wait, no. She didn't have a spare. Totally not. Why?"

"I was just wondering. But Nino, if she didn't have a dress then she couldn't have come," Adrien said, tapping his pen on the paper in front of him.

"What's that?" Alya asked curiously.

"He's looking for Ladybug," Nino replied. He gave Alya a meaningful glance.

"What?" She froze for a moment. Then her eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, Nathalie got me this list of girls who came on Friday. It's not complete, but I've been crossing out names. I've met a lot of them before since they've modeled at least once for the Agreste label, but so far, I didn't find anyone," Adrien said, frowning at the list. "Maybe she's not on this list."

"Oh, she's on that list alright," Nino said dryly, eyeing the paper.

"Don't tell me you haven't seen her since?" Alya asked slowly. She leaned forward. "How was it, anyways? Your getaway with Ladybug?"

"Does everyone know about that?" Adrien groaned.

"Well, not everyone. It's not posted on the Ladyblog yet," she replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "So? How was it? I take it that it didn't go so well?"

"How did you know?"

Alya crossed her arms. "I haven't heard from her all weekend. At all."

"You haven't heard from her?" Adrien asked in confusion. "Do you have a way of contacting Ladybug?"

"Er, I mean there hasn't been Ladybug activity lately. You know. The usual. But what happened? It was supposed to be perfect, don't tell me you messed it up. I won't forgive you if you did something."

"Alya," Nino warned.

She bit her lip.

Adrien frowned, looking at the two of them.

"Alya, are you...annoyed at me?" He finally asked.

"Y—"

" _No_ ," Nino cut in, giving Alya a look. "Look, she's just a little annoyed, with Marinette not being able to come after her dress was ruined. So she's a little snappy, you know what I mean? So she's been saying some stuff _before she thinks_. Right, Al?"

"...Right." Alya sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Sorry. A lot happened. But what happened that night? You don't look too happy."

"Ladybug…" Adrien swallowed. "Nothing. We just hung out."

"Alone?" Nino asked, unconvinced. Even Alya rolled her eyes at the answer.

"Yeah," he answered stubbornly. He didn't want them to know, not yet. Not until he figured everything out himself. And even if he figured out Ladybug's identity, he couldn't tell them about it. Close friends or not, he didn't think Ladybug would want him telling others about her identity. Assuming he ever finds it.

He held up the list. It was just short of two pages long. Considering how many people were at the mansion that night, this wasn't nearly as long as it should be. He knew most of the people on the list already since most were already in the fashion industry, and as a model and the son of Gabriel Agreste, he could already cross out most names at first glance. Scowling at the paper, he took his pen to it, crossing out one name after another.

"Whoa, there's a face we don't see on you often," Nino commented.

"She's not on here," he muttered, closing his eyes.

"What's gotten into you, dude? You'll find her eventually. You just have to keep trying," Nino said, taking the paper from him. "Wow, you even got Chloe on this list? You want me to cross her off for you?"

"What's the point?" Adrien sighed, opening his eyes, watching as the other boy crossed out Chloe's name. "She's not on there. The only names left are the people in our class, Sabrina, Marinette, and Alya. And Nino, you said that Marinette couldn't have come because her dress was ruined. Alya, you wouldn't happen to be Ladybug, would you?"

"Me? Is that a serious question?"

"See? That only leaves Sabrina." Adrien leaned back thoughtfully. "Maybe it's Sabrina?"

" _No_ ," both Nino and Alya said simultaneously.

"Sabrina was akumatized before, remember?" Nino added. "Ladybug stopped her."

"That's true," Adrien agreed, twirling his pen absentmindedly. Anyone akumatized couldn't be Ladybug. By that logic, Sabrina and Alya were out as Ladybug candidates. And according to Nino and Alya, Marinette was not able to attend, even though she had an invitation…

His pen stopped.

She had an invitation. Nino and Alya assumed that she didn't go based on...what? Her words? They didn't know for certain that she didn't go. She had an invitation after all.

"Speaking of the girls in the class," Nino said. "Adrien brought something up earlier. Chloe couldn't have ruined Marinette's dress. She was at school all day and with Adrien as soon as school let out."

"What?" Alya frowned. "No, that can't be right. Only Chloe could be behind this something like this."

"Yeah, but like it or not, she has an alibi," Nino said shrugging. "Right, Adrien?"

"Uh, yeah. Hey, are you guys sure that Marinette didn't have a spare dress?" Adrien asked. Nino and Alya exchanged a look.

"Why do you ask?" Alya said. Her expression was carefully blank.

"I was just wondering. Since she's a fashion designer and everything, I thought that she'd have spare somewhere," Adrien said, making an excuse off the top of his head. It wasn't like he could tell them he suspected the girl of being Ladybug. They probably wouldn't even believe him.

"She has a few dresses," Alya said slowly. "But she didn't have a spare ball gown, other than the one she gave me. And believe me, I tried giving it back. The girl wouldn't accept it. She insisted on me going."

"I...see," Adrien said thoughtfully.

"I hope so," Nino muttered.

"I have gotta go," Adrien said, standing up. "Er, to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

"Right back, he says," Nino said, watching the other boy leave the room. "How much you wanna bet he suspects Marinette now?"

"Please, he's Adrien. He can't even figure out that Marinette likes him. He'll probably doubt himself and change his mind at least twice before he realizes it's her," Alya said, rolling her eyes. She pulled out her phone.

For the next few minutes, the only sound between them was the tapping of Alya on her phone, presumably of her updating one of her many blogs, and the drumming of Nino's fingers on the table. He scratched the back of his neck.

"Hey, Al?"

"Mm?"

"I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Mhm?" She slouched forward, propping her chin up with one hand as she used the other to continue typing. Still, she didn't look at him.

"I was just wondering...about Friday?"

"What about it?" Her typing paused for a fraction of a second. Then it began once more, slightly more aggressive than before. He swallowed.

"You weren't originally gonna ask me for chemistry help, were you?"

"What did you think I was going to ask?"

"Uh, well, I didn't think it was gonna be a question…"

"Then what did you think I was going to say?" She finally stopped, looking up at him again. Her expression was carefully blank. A perfect poker face.

"Y'know…Something."

"Like?"

"Something you haven't told me before," Nino said slowly. Suddenly, he was unsure. He couldn't tell if Alya's face was encouraging or not. That was probably one of Alya's more useful skills. The girl could hide what she was really thinking if she tried. Probably one of her most annoying skills too.

"And if I was?"

"Then...I would have been really happy," Nino admitted.

Alya didn't answer. Instead, she looked down at her phone once more, her hair falling forward to hide her face. Faint tapping could be heard once more.

"Really?"

"Really," he confirmed. The tapping became louder.

"And I was just thinking," he continued. "That I was getting tired, y'know? It was like that time we got trapped together all over again. Like, that feeling that was just there. Except, neither of us said anything about it, which was cool and all except it gets kinda frustrating after a while. Especially now with getting Adrien and Marinette together and all that. So this time I figured, heck, why have a repeat? So if you're not going to say it, then I will."

The tapping stopped. He took that as a sign of encouragement.

"Alya Césaire, I like you," he confessed. "And I think you feel the same way. Er, well, I hope you do. I mean, I'm pretty sure. You seemed like you wanted to confess on Friday, but I dunno man, I don't _think_ I was reading you wrong. Like, it's cool if you don't—"

" _Alya_ _Césaire, I like you_ ," his own voice interrupted him, breaking his onslaught of words.

"Uh…"

" _Alya_ _Césaire, I like you._ " The recording played back at him once again. Alya lifted her head, just enough for her hair to fall to the side once more.

Then she made a face and lightly punched him in the arm.

"You should have done that earlier, you idiot," she mumbled. Then she cleared her throat.

"Did you _record_ me?"

"Totally not," she said grinning. She tucked her hair behind her ear. As she did so, he noticed a hint of blush on her face, and he grinned.

"Wait, so like, was that a yes?"

"What is there to say yes to? You didn't even ask me anything," she retorted.

"Do you actually like me back?"

"No, I totally recorded your confession to make fun of you," she said sarcastically, holding up her phone. "Of course I like you, you idiot."

"Aww, that's so cute."

"You do realize that I have blackmail material on you now, right? I'd lay off of the compliments."

"Haha...you wouldn't actually, right?"

"I _do_ have eleven blogs, you know."

"Wait, Al, no."

"I wonder which one I should post it on first," she mused, swiping on her phone.

"No, no, and no," Nino yelped, lunging for the phone.

Alya laughed, easily holding the phone out of reach. "I was kidding."

"I don't trust that face. That face doesn't say it's kidding."

"Oh look, the upload button…"

"Alya!"


	17. Chapter 16

Marinette reluctantly trudged up the stairs of the school.

It was still early; the only people who came this early were usually students who were making up a missed quiz or assignment. Even the Max didn't come this early, she was pretty sure. This was probably the earliest she'd shown up to school so far, now that she thought about it, and the only reason that she did show up early was to escape her parent's worried looks. Still, she couldn't escape Tikki's looks of pity. The kwami felt helpless, she knew, but didn't know what to do about it. At least Tikki was forced to hide once she was outside.

She very briefly considered skipping the whole day for the first time in her life as she pulled open the doors, but ultimately decided against it. Despite what her parents thought, she'd only skipped classes when she had a very good reason to, and although saving Paris was a sufficient enough reason, avoiding Adrien was not.

She grimaced at the thought. She didn't hate Adrien, even if he tried. Besides, what was to hate him for? It wasn't like he rejected "Marinette." And even if he did, a rejection was hardly a reason to hate someone.

It was just...she didn't want to face him. Not for a little while longer at least.

"Marinette!"

What the actual—

She looked up, surprise and disbelief on her face. She knew that voice. She also knew that the owner of that voice _should not_ be here that early. He never came this early, not once, not ever.

Until today.

 _Of course_ he shows up early the one day she came to school early. Because kwami forbid she have any shred of good luck.

She silently cursed, blush beginning to rise in her cheeks as she caught sight of Adrien on the other end of the hall, waving at her before making a move in her direction.

Nope, nope, nope.

Before she even really knew what she was doing, she had turned and ran. The only thing was, her mind was a little too fuddled to processes the best route, and she was blushing too much for her eyes to really process anything. So instead of running right back out the school entrance like what a normal person would have done, she took a sharp left turn and ran down another hallway. Like an idiot.

She was about halfway down that hallway before her mind even processed what she had done. Her mind screamed at herself for running, but now that she started she saw no sense in stopping either. She dimly noted a shout of surprise from the boy after she ran, only just now processing what that sound was, and her blush deepened. Screw having a sufficient reason, she was definitely skipping today.

"Marinette, wait!"

He was _giving chase_? That thought alone sent her mind back into a flurry of pure panic. She didn't care that he didn't know that she was Ladybug, she was _not_ ready to face him. Not here, not now. She picked up her pace, all but flying up the stairs.

As athletic as Adrien was, he was still just a model. He wasn't trained for running and he didn't have the extra skill given to miraculous holders. Already, his last shout was dying away, with the only thing left are her short even breaths as she tried to calm both her head and heart.

She needed to think of an excuse. Obviously, her previously entertained excuse of being sick wasn't going to help now. Adrien would be sure to tell Nino and Alya what would happen later once he had given up. Well, probably just Nino as a side comment, but since Alya sat right behind the boys, she was sure to overhear his comment. She'd have to think of something that can fool Alya as well. That would probably be the trickiest part; Alya knew her the best and lying was nearly impossible with the girl in most cases, as proven time and time again.

She shook her head. Alya would definitely be the hardest to fool, especially since the girl knew that something was wrong with Marinette all weekend. Her friend had even threatened to all but murder the person responsible for her sudden moodiness, but how could she tell Alya that Adrien was the cause?

For a moment, Marinette considered leaving through the back entrance of the school but quickly realized that she'd passed the last closest hallway to the back. Turning back would risk running into Adrien and that was completely out of the question. She was closer to the front now anyways. One more turn and she'll see the front of the school again. She'll have to go back out the front entrance and—

A pair of arms reached out and grabbed her.

Not being able to stop in time, she yelped in surprise as her momentum brought both her and the owner of the arms crashing forward onto the floor.

She groaned as she sat up, slightly shaking her head. She had broken her fall with her hands as best she could, and as Ladybug she'd taken much worse falls but that didn't mean that falling didn't hurt. Besides, her abilities were mainly boosted while transformed and she was pretty sure she'd scraped her hands just now.

A second groan coming for just next to her caught her attention. When she looked over, Marinette's eyes widened.

Adrien sat up, wincing as he held his hand to his head. Apparently, he wasn't quite as fast in breaking his own fall, with his arms having to catch her just moments before. As he sat up, his hand came down to gingerly touch his upper arm and he winced again.

"I never realized how fast you can run," he commented, massaging his arm.

Marinette flushed. Her legs seemed frozen underneath her.

"Why did you run?" He slowly stood up, his face slightly pained as he straightened. He offered her a hand, which she could only stare at dumbly.

"Are you okay?"

She jolted at his words, reality hitting her all at once again. Almost on reflex, she took his offered hand, causing her to blush all over again. As expected, his hands were soft, softer than any other hand she'd held before. Still, she dropped it as soon as she had stood up and nodded quickly at his question.

"Y-Yeah," she muttered. She very lightly bounced on her heels, anxious to get away. Anxious to run again. But she knew that she couldn't come up with an excuse if she ran away again. The best she could do now was to think of a semi-believable excuse now and hope that it made enough sense for her to get away with skipping for the rest of the day. She was not up to answering Alya's questions or to talk to Adrien today.

"Why did you run?" he repeated, slightly gentler this time. She forced herself to look at him. There was no annoyance on his face, only concern.

She would have preferred annoyance.

"I-I…" Marinette looked down. "I was...planning to s-skip today."

Well, it wasn't a complete lie.

"Skip?" Adrien frowned disapprovingly. "Why?"

Not having a proper excuse for that, she shrugged. Her eyes stayed fixated on her shoes.

Adrien sighed.

"I wanted to ask you something," he began slowly. She tensed.

"Were you at the contest?"

Her heart skipped a beat, panic rising in her throat. Did he suspect her?

"N-No."

"Really?" he pressed. He shifted, clearly feeling a little awkward. She was surprised; she never once thought the Adrien was capable of doing something like this. Unless...he actually did suspect her.

As she had that thought, another thought crossed her mind, and her panic subsided just a fraction. She nodded eagerly.

"Y-Yeah." She slung her backpack over one shoulder. Unzipping it, she quickly rummaged through it for a bit before pulling out a plastic bag.

"My invitation was...ruined," she said, her voice low. She held the bag in front of Adrien.

The ripped halves of the invitation inside the bag were unmistakable. She had thrown it into her backpack right before leaving Friday night. She knew that Alya would likely ask for it as part of her proof in confronting Chloe at some point so she had thrown it in before she forgot. Letting out a silent breath of relief, she watched as Adrien studied the contents with a frown. She wasn't sure if he actually suspected her, but this would throw him off her trail for sure. At least with her secret intact, she could avoid Adrien by being Marinette. It wasn't like Adrien saw Ladybug even remotely often, so it was perfect for avoiding the boy model until her embarrassment of rejection had died down.

"But that doesn't...So you couldn't have went…" he muttered, almost to himself.

She nodded again and started to slip the contents of the bag back into her backpack only to pause and hand them to him.

"Can...Can you give this to Alya? I think she'd want it," she said. Adrien nodded absentmindedly, taking the bag from her.

"Tell her that it was Sabrina," she said, as an afterthought. "But I think Chloe was behind it."

"Sabrina?" This drew Adrien out of his thoughts. Marinette nodded, already taking a step away as she zipped her backpack and put it on properly again.

"You're not actually going to skip, are you?"

Marinette didn't answer. Instead, she simply turned and ran.

* * *

Adrien stared at the ruined invitation in his hands thoughtfully.

It was authentic, alright. Father had made sure to use only the highest quality of materials in order to show off his wealth as well as make it nearly impossible for anyone to forge on short notice. But that meant that Marinette wasn't Ladybug.

He cursed.

He was so certain too, especially with how she ran. He thought that he'd recognized that running as Ladybug's, but he held the proof against that right in his very hands. Someone else must be Ladybug, someone who wasn't on the list.

Still, he was strangely disappointed. Marinette had seemed like the perfect Ladybug. If the girl wasn't always afraid of him in school and if he didn't have Ladybug, he would have probably liked her. When she wasn't near him, she had shown time and time again to be smart, quick-witted, and kind to everyone. Just like Ladybug. If Marinette was Ladybug, everything would have been absolutely perfect.

He smiled wryly.

Not that he was that lucky, of course. His miraculous _was_ the black cat. He should have guessed that things didn't work out that nicely in life for him. The luckiest thing that has happened to him in his life so far was being gifted the power of Chat Noir, and even that came with the cost of unrequited love. And just when he thought that it wasn't as unrequited as he thought, Ladybug gets the completely wrong idea and disappears.

No, luck was reserved for Ladybug. He sighed.

"Hey, Adrien!"

Adrien looked up. Nino grinned at him as he entered the classroom again. Strangely, both Nino and Alya were wearing matching grins, and Nino had even moved to take Marinette's seat.

Puzzled, he sat down.

"Um…"

"How was your bathroom break?" Alya asked, her voice too cheerful for the mood that she was in only ten minutes ago.

"Uh, good." He eyed both of them. "Are you guys okay?"

"Oh, don't worry about us. We'll tell you later," Alya said, waving the matter aside. "Anyways, did anything happen? You took a while."

"I bumped into Marinette," he said. He was surprised by the lack of surprise in either of their faces. In fact, he could have sworn Alya's grin got wider.

"And?" she prompted, leaning forward.

"She told me to give you this," he replied, holding up the bag before setting it on the table in front of them. Alya looked at it, confusion on her face for a moment before being replaced by realization which was quickly followed by exasperation and annoyance. Talk about a mood swing.

Nino was a little slower in reacting. He stared at the envelope before looking at Alya for an explanation.

"She also told me to tell you that Sabrina did it," Adrien added before the girl could say anything. "She said that it was probably Chloe who was behind it though."

"Sabrina?" This seemed to distract Alya for a bit. Her expression cleared to one of bewilderment. Then her eyes narrowed. "Of course...I don't know why I didn't see it earlier. Chloe _always_ uses Sabrina to do her dirty work. That would give Chloe an alibi."

"Sabrina _was_ late that day, now that I think about it," Nino added thoughtfully. "I remember cause Chloe usually never comes in without Sabrina."

Alya nodded. "Everything makes sense now. You know, if Sabrina really did this, then that would be a major crime. Probably big enough to get the police involved and swab for fingerprints on the envelope."

"Wait, you want to get her _arrested_?" Adrien interrupted. "Isn't that a bit harsh?"

"Uhh…" Nino looked at Alya.

"Chloe's dad can probably hide any scandal on his daughter. It won't hurt her future, only her pride," Alya said slowly. But now, doubt was cast on her face. As much as they all hated Chloe, they were still in middle school, no more than kids.

"But Chloe wasn't the one doing it," Adrien pointed out. "Sabrina was the one who actually did the things even if you are right. And Sabrina isn't protected like Chloe is."

"He's right, Al," Nino said. He placed a hand on Alya's arm. "Chloe might deserve it, but Sabrina doesn't."

"So we're just supposed to let her go?" Alya asked in disbelief. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Nino shrugged helplessly, not knowing how to answer.

She turned to Adrien.

"Chloe deserves to be punished."

Looking away, Adrien also shrugged.

Scowling, Alya stood up. Her fists clenched. "That's not _fair_. She can't just get away with this!"

"We'll figure something out," Nino said, lightly tugging on her arm. Alya shook her head, pulling her arm out of his reach. She picked up the ripped invitation, as well as her bag.

" _I'll_ figure something out."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thank you, everyone, for reading! This was actually supposed to be the last chapter, but I almost dozed off twice so I cut it in two. Hopefully the last half will be out tomorrow :)**


	18. Chapter 17

WELL, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT? THE FINAL CHAPTER. NOW I CAN FINALLY WORK ON ASSASSIN AND STOP FEELING GUILTY AS HECK WHEN SOMEONE STARTS FOLLOWING THIS.

Warning: This chapter is 400% longer and 50% the quality of previous chapters. This is essentially, with a lack of a better term, a placeholder chapter. Very abrupt, very inconsistent, and genuinely confusing.

* * *

"So, what happened?"

Nino propped up his head on his hands, a mixture of exasperation and curiosity on his face. Or at least that's what Adrien thought it was. It was either that or just plain exasperation, but for what exactly, he had no idea. It was almost as if his friend was waiting for something. Like he knew something that Adrien didn't.

Adrien frowned. Now that he thought about it, it was strange. Nino was probably one of the most straightforward guys he knew and although they haven't known each other as long as most other best friends have, it was rare for Adrien to not have at least an idea of what was on Nino's mind. Other than the whole Chat Noir thing, there weren't really any secrets between the two.

Until now.

"What do you mean?" Adrien asked warily. This time, he was sure that Nino looked exasperated.

"Oh c'mon. You've been acting all weird today. And then you got even weirder when you got back from running into Marinette. It doesn't take a genius to know that something's up, y'know," he replied, rolling his eyes. "You can tell me now that Alya's not here. We're friends, aren't we?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Then?"

"...Nothing happened."

"Adrien, you see this? This is my unconvinced face. Now talk before I get Alya back here to make you spill the beans."

"Where is Alya anyways?" he asked suddenly. Nino made a face at him.

"Are you trying to change the subject?"

"It's an honest question," Adrien protested. "She just up and left with all her stuff and you don't even seem the least bit worried."

Nino shrugged. "You know her. You can't really stop her once she sets her mind on something."

"She's _skipping school_."

Again, Nino shrugged. "Well, Marinette's probably gonna drag Alya back once she realizes that she's gone. Where is Marinette anyways? Didn't you like, bump into her or something earlier?"

"She's skipping too."

"She's— _what_?" He gave Adrien an incredulous look. " _Why_? Did you scare her off? The heck?"

"I...may have chased her," Adrien admitted.

" _Dude._ "

"And I might have kinda tackled her."

"The heck is wrong with you?"

"And then she ran away."

"Are you kidding? I would have too if you _tackled_ me. What are you, a soccer player now? Are you crazy?" Nino shook his head in disbelief. "I don't even— _why_? You have like two seconds to explain before I text Alya that you chased and tackled her best friend."

"I mean, she ran away first," Adrien protested weakly, the tips of his ears turning pink. Now that he was recounting what happened, it was a tad absurd. Okay, scratch that, the whole thing was a mess.

"What did you _do_?"

"Nothing! I didn't even say anything to her; she saw me and just began hightailing out of there like her life depended on it," he said, frowning. "I'm not that ugly, am I?"

"Trust me, that's probably the opposite of your problem. So why'd you give chase then? I mean, I'm no expert in social clues and stuff, but I think someone running away from you kiiiiinda gives hints at that person not wanting to see you," Nino said dryly. "Are you sure you didn't do anything?"

"I swear on my life that I didn't do anything. And I didn't mean to chase her. It just...happened?" Adrien scratched the back of his head sheepishly. To tell the truth, even he didn't exactly know why he had given chase. No sane person would have run after her, much less try to physically stop her.

He sighed. Maybe Nino was right. Maybe his search for Ladybug was making him a bit crazy. He hadn't even given a second thought before chasing the girl; the only thing that he could recall was a feeling of panic like he _needed_ to chase her down. And he was so sure at the time…

How pathetic.

"You just happened to give chase and tackle the poor girl?" Nino said skeptically. "Man, no wonder she's skipping today. As if she wasn't stressed enough."

"What do you mean?" Adrien slouched forward. "What's stressing her?"

"Er, I mean," Nino's gaze flickered away. "Y'know. She's probably bummed out from getting her invitation ripped. All that stuff."

Adrien's eyes narrowed. Once again, he couldn't help but feel like Nino was keeping something from him. That itself wouldn't normally bother him, but that was the second time now in the past, what, five minutes? If the topic of the conversation was anything else, Adrien would have brushed it off. But given the nature of the conversation…

"Are you not telling me something?"

Nino slightly jumped at the words. Bingo. "W-What do you mean?''

"You're hiding something," Adrien deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.

His friend gave a nervous laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on. This friendship thing is mutual. I can tell when you're being weird too. Now it's your turn to tell me what's up," Adrien said straightening up. Nino shifted uncomfortably, muttering something under his breath.

"What?"

"I shouldn't tell you."

When Adrien opened his mouth, Nino quickly added, "I _can't_ tell you. Dude, you know I'd tell you if I could. But it's not my secret to tell."

"What do you mean? Whose secret is it?"

"It's, um…"

"Does it have something to do with Ladybug?"

Nino paled. Adrien's eyes widened.

"Do you know who Ladybug is?"

"Marinette…"

A small grunt was all the kwami got in response. Tikki sighed. She tried again.

"Marinette."

This time, the blanket shifted a bit. But instead of coming out from under her blanket, the girl drew the comforter further over her head.

Tikki flew closer, landing on the girl's pillow.

"You can't hide in your room forever," Tikki said gently. Marinette grunted in reply.

"Besides, Adrien didn't reject you, did he?" Tikki continued in the same tone. It was a well-worn argument, she knew. But even repeated conversations were better than simple grunts from under a blanket.

"He rejected Ladybug," came the tired reply.

"He didn't say anything."

"He didn't need to."

"He was just surprised," Tikki suggested.

"He's a _supermodel_ , Tikki. Why would he like me?"

Tikki hesitated. The kwami had already learned that the reply "Because you're Ladybug" wasn't exactly the best. The first time she'd used it, the girl had started crying again. Even if the last time that Marinette cried was on Saturday, Tikki almost wished that wasn't the case. Crying outright was better than _this_.

Tikki took a deep breath. It was at this point that the conversation always differed at, either for better or for worse. More often than not, it was the latter outcome which usually ended with the girl sighing and retreating into herself until the next time the kwami could coze her back out again. Either that or until her parents came upstairs to call her down to eat. Although both noticed their daughter's sudden seemingly random mood change, neither of them could get her to tell them what was wrong or cheer her up more than Tikki could.

"I don't think that's my question to answer," Tikki said kindly. Truth be told, the kwami was also running out of answers to try.

A minute passed.

Then the blanket shifted again, and Tikki quickly flew off the pillow to make room as the girl sat up with a sigh.

Her hair was a mess. As soon as she returned home via the rooftop as Ladybug and detransformed, she had shaken out her pigtails, tossing the two hair bands onto her desk before flopping into bed. Her eyes were a light pink, as was her nose.

Pulling her legs up, she rested her forehead on her knees, her hair falling forward to hide her eyes. "I know."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tikki asked.

"There's nothing to talk about," was the glum reply. "He rejected me."

At that moment, something in the kwami changed. Centuries of guiding one Ladybug after another had come with patience. Unfortunately, patience does have its limits, even for kwamis.

"And? Are you Ladybug or not?" Her voice came out a bit sharper than normal. Marinette stiffened at the change in tone, slightly turning her face to peek at the kwami.

"Marinette, I understand that this the time in life that humans are more vulnerable to emotions. Almost every Ladybug starts this young. But what I don't understand is why, despite being one of the most brilliant Ladybugs I've ever seen, you would let one rejection upset you this much. Tell me, did he _verbally_ reject you?"

"N-No, but—"

"Then how on earth do you know that he did?" Tikki cried, exasperated. She flew closer to the girl's face. "If Adrien had confessed to you out of nowhere, do you honestly think that you'd have an answer prepared right then? Or would you stand there in shock for a minute?"

"I…" Marinette sniffled, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I don't know…"

"You'd stand there in shock. While Alya tries to get you off cloud nine and back to earth," Tikki said flatly. The uncharacteristic tone of the kwami surprised the both of them, but Tikki carried on. "And how would you know for sure that Adrien was going to reject you? Because of something that you did? Or because you're letting your insecurity get ahold of you?"

Marinette bit her lip. Her arms tightened around herself. Then she looked away.

"I don't want to get my hopes up," she mumbled. "What if—"

"'What if' does not matter, Marinette. If you let yourself be dragged down by all that, you'll never move forward. If he really rejected you, that will be that and you'll be sad, but you'll also eventually move forward. The only 'what if' you _should_ be considering right now is if he _wasn't_ about to reject you before you ran off like that. And if that's the case then you'd have been wallowing in self-pity for nothing while Adrien frantically tries to find you and correct things. Okay?" Tikki said the last part softly, hoping that she finally got through to the girl.

Marinette didn't answer. Just when Tikki thought that she wasn't going to answer at all, Marinette mumbled something just too low to hear. Before the kwami could ask her to repeat herself, however, Marinette turned her head slightly to peek at the kwami.

"You really think I'm one of the most brilliant Ladybugs you've seen?"

Tikki smiled. "Yes, Marinette. I really do."

Marinette gave a small smile, and the kwami breathed a small sigh of relief. The storm was over.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

"Are you serious?"

Nino had his face buried in his hands.

"Alya's going to kill me," he groaned.

"Wait, Alya also knew too?" Adrien said incredulously.

"Tell my parents to cremate my body so Alya can't bring me back to life just to kill me twice."

" _Nino._ "

"Look man, I wasn't supposed to tell you anything. At all. Like, nada. My lips were supposed to be _zipped_. The least you can do is let me write my will."

"But Marinette—"

The door opened, interrupting the two.

Sabrina hesitantly peeked inside. Once she caught sight of the two boys, she stiffened and ducked her head down, hurrying past them and to her normal seat. Once at her seat, the girl kept her head down, ignoring them.

Adrien and Nino glanced at each other. Nino eyed Sabrina warily before looking at Adrien, both obviously remembering Marinette's and Alya's accusations against the girl. Although Nino had clearly shown that he believed the girls, Adrien wasn't as certain. He couldn't fathom anybody in their class even seriously considering doing something like sabotaging someone else's property like that, much less actually go through with it.

It was Adrien who broke the silence first.

"Sabrina, is it true?"

The girl jumped slightly. A second later, she slowly turned to face them, a guilty look on her face. Still, she avoided their gazes.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

Adrien would have almost believed her if it weren't for the miserable look on her face. And if she wasn't so obvious in not meeting their eyes.

He changed tactics. There wasn't anyone else in the classroom yet, not after Alya left, but it was nearly that time when people started to file in. If he wanted to confirm what Marinette had said was true for himself, he'd have to coax it out of her now.

"Sabrina." His voice was gentle. She flinched slightly but otherwise didn't move. "Did Chloe make you do it?"

And just like that, Sabrina broke.

She told them about Chloe used her. About how she sneaked into Marinette's room. How she ruined the dress.

How she ripped the invitation.

"I didn't want to! I apologized to Marinette—I tried to make it up to her afterward without telling Chloe, " Sabrina wailed, her hands covering her eyes. Tears streamed down her face, snot coming from her nose. "Chloe made me—I tried to convince her not to, I swear I did! B-But Chloe, she—" Her voice broke, her words turning into quiet sobs.

"Sabrina…" Even Nino seemed at a loss for words. Neither boys had the faintest idea of how to comfort a crying girl, much less comfort a crying girl who had just confessed to sabotaging their friend.

Adrien could only watch Sabrina in shock, still not able to completely trust what he had just heard. Although Nino and Alya had both insisted that Chloe had been behind all this, a part of Adrien had wished that it was all a misunderstanding of sorts. The girl was mean, sure, but she was still his childhood friend. His only childhood friend.

"Sabrina," Nino began again, awkwardly doing his best attempt at a soothing voice. He shot Adrien a look. "It's...alright. We'll get Chloe for this, don't worry."

"No!" The sudden cry from the girl startled them. Sabrina looked at them with wide, watery red eyes. "N-No. Don't get Chloe in trouble."

"Sabrina, what are you talking about? Chloe deserves this, she _deserves_ to get in trouble. Look at what she made you do!" Nino said, shaking his head. "We can't just let this go."

Still, Sabrina held her ground, her lips pressed together in a thin line as she shook her head. She sniffled loudly.

Nino threw up his hands in exasperation. "What the heck? Why would you even want to defend her? She's like, fifty shades of evil in one person. You just told us how she forced you to do this. _How_ can you even defend her?!"

"She's my only friend!" Sabrina hiccupped, wiping away at her eyes. "S-She wasn't always like this. Not since...not since then. Please," she turned to Adrien with pleading eyes. "You know, don't you? She was different back then. She's still different inside. I know it. _You_ know it."

Adrien hesitated. Nino turned to him, eyebrows raised.

"What is she talking about?"

Adrien shook his head, ignoring Nino's question. "Sabrina, if what you're saying is true, we can't let this go. What we're dealing with, I'm pretty sure there's at least a couple laws broken. You should know this better than any of us. What would your father say?"

"Chloe protected me." She sniffled, her eyes still fixated on Adrien's. "I-I won't let her get in trouble. You can't make me. I won't testify against her."

"Sabrina…" Adrien said, making helpless gestures. On one hand, he knew that Marinette deserved justice. But on the other, it wasn't like he could force Sabrina to do anything. He looked at Nino, hoping that the other boy would say something.

"You won't need to," Nino said quietly. He looked down at his phone on the table. He pressed the button on the screen. The recording stopped.

It took about three seconds before either of the two realized what Nino had done. Sabrina reacted first, lunging towards the phone. Adrien reacted a moment later, more out of reflex than anything, and grabbed the girl's outstretched hand, just short of reaching Nino's phone as the boy pulled the phone away.

"No! Let go of me! Give me that!" Sabrina struggled violently, managing to elbow Adrien hard in the ribs. Adrien grimaced but held on tightly. Not even halfway into the morning and he'd already had to grab two different girls. Great. At least Marinette hadn't tried to break his nose.

Nino quickly stepped back, pressing against the wall. His face was guilty but determined. When she saw that Nino wasn't budging, she turned to Adrien once more.

"Please don't use it against Chloe," she begged. "Please, she can change, I promise. I'll _help_ her change this time—she's still good inside, I know it. She was just jealous, she felt threatened! You understand, don't you? Haven't you made a mistake before out of jealousy?"

"I—" Nino hesitated. Sabrina, seeing his hesitation, quickly turned to him with hope in her eyes. Immediately, Nino looked away. "Alya would want this," he murmured, almost to himself. His voice was uncertain.

As quickly as the hope as come, it was replaced with desperation once more. Tears welled up in her eyes once more. "My dad would lose his job! I-I don't have the same influence as Chloe! My dad doesn't have power like her dad does—if people find out that the daughter of a police officer did all this, he'll be fired for sure! Please," Sabrina's voice broke. "I'm begging you."

Nino and Adrien exchanged a glance, both waiting for the other to decide. After what seemed like an eternity, it was Nino who finally let out a long sigh.

"Fine. But the next time Chloe steps out of line like this again, we're turning this recording in," Nino said wearily, rubbing his temples.

Sabrina fell limp in Adrien's arms, tears of relief escaping her eyes as she took in slow, shaky breaths. Adrien held her up, steadying the girl until he was sure that she could stand on her own again as Nino rubbed his temples.

"Man, I miss when life wasn't so...so…"

"Dramatic?" Adrien suggested.

Nino nodded. "Yeah, that."

Adrien silently agreed, waiting until Sabrina shuffled back to her desk before slipping into his back seat as Nino did the same. He pulled out his phone. His father had Natalie give him a spare over the weekend as they ordered a new one for him. He'd tried tracking his old one on the off chance that a thief had somehow managed to swipe it, but the last recorded location was at one of the malls he was at with Chloe at the time.

Nino glanced over. "What are you doing now?"

"Texting Marinette."

This immediately caught Nino's attention. "Why?"

"Um…" He quickly finished up his text before answering. "No reason."

"Man, you are _bad_ at this lying thing."

"I'll improve when you improve," Adrien shot back before giving Nino a sheepish smile.

"Is it about…" Nino glanced over to where Sabrina sat. The girl had her head down, but it was more than likely that she was listening. It was hard not to with them being the only people in the room. He lowered his voice. "Is it about what I told you earlier?"

"Uh…"

Nino groaned. "Alya's totally gonna kill me. She specifically told me _not_ to tell you too. Correction, she's going to brutally murder me as slowly and painfully as possible while filming the whole thing."

"Tell her I forced it out of you," Adrien suggested, smiling. In the midst of all the drama that had just happened, he'd nearly forgotten about what Nino had just told him. Now, however, the same hope he felt earlier began to soar in his chest. All he had to do was wait for a reply.

"Marinette?"

Tikki watched her holder carefully brush her hair out. She'd been brushing her hair for the past five minutes now; Tikki had a feeling that the girl was doing so to delay going back to school but bit her tongue on commenting on it. The last thing that the kwami wanted was to risk the girl changing her mind about going to school after all. Marinette made a small noise of acknowledgment, her two hair ties pressed between her lips. Tikki also suspected that the girl had deliberately put those ties between her lips to avoid talking, as she'd only rarely done so before while styling her hair.

Still, it was a huge improvement. Tikki never took Marinette as one for moping, but over the centuries, the kwami had learned that even the strongest of humans had at least one weakness. Marinette's weakness just happened to be rejection from the one she idolized most.

"Shouldn't you charge your phone before going?" the kwami asked gently, gesturing to the said device. Marinette glanced at it, her lips stretching into a grimace. But with a reluctant nod, she set her brush down to connect it to its charger.

The phone vibrated once to acknowledge its charging status. Marinette hadn't bothered charging her phone since that night and instead had let the device wear itself out, vibrating nearly constantly during its last couple hours from various notifications from either Alya or Nino.

It wasn't until Marinette forced the last of her hair through her hair tie that she finally spoke.

"I'm sorry."

Tikki tutted disapprovingly, shaking her head. "There's nothing to apologize about."

"I was pathetic." A pause. Then, Marinette shook her head. "I'm _being_ pathetic."

"You were being human," Tikki corrected, settling into her usual spot on Marinette's shoulder. "But Marinette, that's the beautiful things about humans. You have the ability to change and grow from experience—kwamis can't change as easily as humans do."

"Kwamis don't change?" This was news to her. Sure, she'd suspected something like this, but Tikki rarely talked about the past and Marinette had rarely asked.

Tikki shook her head, frowning a bit. "Not really. Plagg hasn't changed his ways since I've met him, and I don't think he ever will."

"Plagg?"

"Um," Tikki hesitated. Then deciding that it was probably no harm in telling, she replied, "Chat Noir's kwami."

"Oh. Chat." Marinette bit her lip at the name. There hadn't been any akuma attacks over the weekend, but other than a quick call to let Chat know that she was taking a small break from patrols, she neglected to tell him about anything. He must be worried sick, she thought guiltily.

She dug around in her drawer for a bit before pulling out a small battery. Never one to be glued to her phone, she rarely needed to bring a portable battery with her to keep her phone alive. The times that she did bring her battery was on Alya's request as she left the house for school. She'd nearly forgotten where she kept it.

Reaching over, she held the power button on her phone for a few seconds until she felt it give a single vibration before it began turning on. The low battery screen flashed at her for a second before the brand's logo replaced it. Tikki flew over, gently landing on the space next to the screen, curiously watching the screen glow with a preset pattern of colors. The kwami had told Marinette once that technology was, and probably will always be, something of interest to kwamis. Humans, unable to naturally harness magic, had created their own "artificial magic." At the time, Marinette hadn't known how to respond to that, so she simply left it at that.

She stood up, leaving her phone as it started to buzz nonstop from a flood of incoming notifications, no doubt mainly from Alya and Nino. She walked over to one of the tin containers she kept next to her desk. Opening it, she took out a couple chocolate chip cookies and plopped them into a small plastic bag, a pile of which she kept next to the container for the very purpose.

"Um, Marinette?"

She glanced over. Tikki was staring at her screen. Next to the kwami, her phone was still happily buzzing away.

"You received a couple texts."

A couple would be an understatement. She sighed. "Yeah, Alya's going to kill me. I'll apologize to her later."

Tikki shook her head. "They're not all from Alya."

"Did she get others to text me too?" Marinette closed the bag, dropping it into her small purse before taking out one last cookie. She grimaced. It was once thing to apologize to her close friends like Alya, but it was even more embarrassing to apologize to the other girls as well. Rose would be sure to be giving her the pity eyes for the rest of the week.

Once again, Tikki shook her head.

"This was from this morning."

Marinette paused. "Who is it from?"

The kwami glanced down, worry evident on her face, before looking back up at Marinette again.

"It's from Adrien. He wants to meet with you."

Adrien lightly tapped the end of his pen against his paper impatiently. There was only a few more minutes left until lunch. A few more minutes until he could check his phone for a reply. Or for a lack of reply, if the last fifty times he'd checked his phone was anything to go by.

As one of the fastest rising young models in the world, Adrien knew that he could get away with many things that most other people couldn't. Of course, unlike Chloe, he rarely abused this privilege and when he did, the times were rare and far in between. For example, half of the teachers in the school would have let him on his phone without blinking an eye. Unfortunately, Ms. Mendeleiev was not one of them.

Having already gotten scolded once, Adrien had tucked away his phone into his bag. Partly on Ms. Mendeleev's instructions, and partly so that he wouldn't have to keep feeling disappointed every other few minutes when he found no reply. But in exchange, disappointment was replaced with a constant _need_ to check his phone. Ms. Mendeleiev wasn't too happy about him basically studying the classroom's clock afterwards, but she'd tolerated it.

The second that the bell rang, his hand was already halfway into his bag.

"Dude, do you have ants in your pants or something?" Nino laughed, pulling his own phone out of his packet, presumably to see if Alya had replied. She hadn't come back yet, but unlike Marinette, Alya had kept up a somewhat steady string of vague replies to Nino.

"Feels like it," Adrien mumbled, frowning at the lack of of a reply from the girl. Was she ignoring him? He really didn't want to drop by her house later as Chat. Maybe he could drop by as Adrien before his fencing lessons?

"Chill. She probably just didn't check her phone yet. She's not as glued to her phone as much as—" Nino abruptly broke off, looking at his phone at disbelief.

Adrien stood up, giving Nino a curious look. "Something wrong?"

Unfreezing, Nino began rapidly typing away.

"Uh...yeah...Wait, no. Um, gimme a sec," Nino stood as well, his eyes still fixated on his phone as he typed away. "Alya almost got arrested."

" _What_? _Why_?"

"Almost."

"Again, _why_?"

"See, normally I would say that it's just Alya being Alya but this is kinda…" Nino sighed, finally pausing in his typing to shrug helplessly. "She said she didn't get arrested in the end. But she didn't say how or stuff. And now she's not replying."

"She…" Adrien shook his head in wonder. First the girl wanted to get their classmate arrested, and now she nearly got arrested herself. "You don't seem shocked."

"Trust me, after these past few days, it's getting harder and harder to get shocked. Surprised, _maybe_. Shocked? I wish." Nino grimaced, heading towards the door. "I might get grey hairs by the end of the year though if Alya keeps acting so crazy all the time."

Adrien chuckled. "What, do you like her or something?"

"Er, I," Nino coughed awkwardly as he looked away, clearing his throat as they left the room. "I'm kinda...we're kinda dating now."

"You—" Adrien blinked blankly. "You—what? Since when?"

"Uh, this morning?"

Realization dawned on him. "When I left and ran into Marinette?"

"Yeah, during your 'bathroom break'," Nino mumbled. The tips of his ears were pink.

Huh. That explained why they were so cheery when he came back. He had his suspicions about the two, but he didn't think that it'd happen so _soon_.

"And you didn't tell me this because…?"

"I told you just now, didn't I?" Nino replied, shooting a grin at Adrien. In doing so, he nearly bumped into someone.

Startled, Nino looked up. "Ah, sorry."

The man in the suit looked down, his face stoic and unimpressed. He gave a single nod in acknowledgement before continuing his stride down the hallway and a second later, he tapped his right index finger to his earpiece as he murmured under his breath.

"Dude, did you see that? Something must be going on…" Nino turned to Adrien, realizing that his friend wasn't even looking at him. Instead, Adrien's eyes were fixated on someone else in front of them, his mouth slightly open in wordless surprise.

Something was going on, Marinette thought, a small frown on her face as she passed yet another man in a black suit. That was the second one she'd passed on her way to the courtyard. The first had been at the main entrance while the other had been briskly walking towards the direction of the principal's office. She wasn't the only one who had noticed; since it was right in the middle of the school's lunch break, many students were milling about the hallways and more than a few of them had openly stared at the men as they passed by. She idly wondered if something had happened. It wasn't an akuma attack for sure; authorities had long learned that things like that were best left to Ladybug and Chat. Still, she couldn't help but be slightly worried.

She kept her head down. Whatever it was, it probably didn't have anything to do with her. The only thing that she had to worry about right now was reassuring everyone that she was still alive and sane. For now, anyways. She used the term "sane" loosely. No actual sane person would have done half the things she had done in the past few days and a part of her was already mentally preparing herself for the near future when she was sure to beat herself up over all this.

As expected, the courtyard was full of students. Unlike some other schools, their school held the same period for lunch across all the grades. Collège Françoise Dupont was one of the best schools in the city and with quality came a higher price tag, resulting in a lower than average student population. Most students had already finished eating, or near finishing at least, and were either chatting with friends or frantically finishing last minute math homework.

She glanced down at her phone. Still no reply from Alya.

Marinette frowned. That was strange. Alya was never one for leaving her phone unchecked, even during class. Had something happened to her?

"...Marinette?"

She jumped, spinning on her heels on reflex. Nathaniel peered at her curiously through his bangs, his sketchbook clutched to his chest. He tilted his head slightly to the side.

"...Are you okay?" he asked, a note of concern in his voice. He shifted uncomfortably, obviously feeling a bit awkward.

Marinette let out a small sigh of relief. She and Nathaniel weren't the closest of friends; in fact, they barely spoke to each other nowadays despite having shared many classes together since childhood. And ever since he'd been akumatized, they'd spoken even less. Still, she was glad it was Nathaniel. She'd rather deal with awkward small talk than having another wild Adrien appear out of nowhere again before she mentally prepared herself.

"Yeah, why?" She flashed him a reassuring smile.

He didn't look convinced. His grip on his sketchbook tightened. "You, um, weren't in class this morning."

She forced out a smile. It felt more like a grimace and judging by Nathaniel's confused expression, it came out that way too. Dear lord, how does she have any friends. "Oh, you know me, always being late. I overslept again."

"Uh...okay." He shifted. "Are you looking for someone...?"

"L-Looking for someone? Nah, why would you think that?" She gave a nervous laugh. Was she that obvious?

He gave a vague gesture, not really meeting her gaze. "You've been staring out at the courtyard from behind a wall for a while," he mumbled.

"I—Was I really?" She blushed. Alya had told her that she was really obvious sometimes, but she didn't think it was that bad.

Nathaniel nodded slightly. Then, after a paused, "Are you looking for Adrien?"

She sighed. "Yeah. I am. And Alya too since she's not answering. But how did you know?"

"Because he's walking over here now."

"He's _what_?" She whipped around. Lo and behold, there was none other than Adrien walking towards her from across the courtyard. Where the heck was he earlier when she was actually looking for him?! Curse him and his weird newfound ability to appear when she least expected it. Her heart was _not_ ready. She let out a strangled squeak.

As Adrien caught her eye, he smiled and gave a small wave, slightly picking up his pace to a borderline light jog. And was it just her or was there a small skip in his step? Was his smile always so blinding? His dentist must be proud as heck.

She faintly heard Nathaniel mumble "I'll leave you to it" from behind her as he shuffled away.

"Marinette!" He came to a stop in front of her, a grin on his face. He seemed awfully cheerful towards her considering that she literally ran away from him earlier. "You came!"

"A-Adrien," she squeaked, her face hot. Seriously, why did he seem so happy? If it was possible to be blinded by a smile, she'd have been blinded thrice over already. "U-Um, yeah."

"I didn't think that you would. Did you get my text? You should have told me you were coming; I was about to go over to your house after school," he said, oblivious to her beet red face.

"Yeah, uh, s-sorry. It must have gotten lost in all of Alya's texts," she said apologetically. In reality, it was because she didn't know _how_ to reply. How in the world were you supposed to answer _Adrien Agreste_ asking you to meet up _alone_? It wasn't like she meant to ignore the text either, she'd just wanted to check with Alya that her reply didn't sound stupid before sending but then Alya just went and poofed on her.

Adrien chuckled. "Nino told me Alya's been spamming you all weekend. I'm not surprised. I was wondering if I could talk to you alone?" He stressed the last word slightly, causing her cheeks to burn yet again.

"I, uh, yeah. I love being alone! Er, I-I mean, I'd love to be alone with you! Wait, no, I mean…" Breath, Marinette, breath. She took a shaky breath. "Y-Yeah, that's n—fine."

He beamed. "Is now okay? It's kind of important."

Seriously, smiles that beautiful should be _illegal_. "Y-Yeah."

"Great. Follow me, we can talk in one of the empty classrooms." What was this, an anime confession scene? He started walking.

Marinette hurried after him. "U-Um, if it's about this morning—"

"It's about Ladybug."

Her heart dropped. "W-What?"

He glanced around. They'd entered one of the emptier hallways now; the few students who were there were a good distance out of hearing range. Still, he lowered his voice. "Nino told me."

Nino? _Nino_? Did Nino suspect her? Did he know? _And_ he told Adrien? How in the world did Nino of all people find out? "I-I don't know what you mean."

He pushed open the doors to a classroom. Since it was one of the lab rooms, it was empty. She followed him inside nervously.

He closed the door before turning to face her. In other circumstances, his smile would have calmed her. Now, however, it only served to worry her even more.

"Look, I'm sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have chased you. Or grabbed you. Or, well, just everything in general," he said sheepishly. "It's just that I was so sure at that time that I acted impulsively. I should have known it would have freaked you out, especially with your secret. Actually, I'm not sure how you even kept this a secret so long. Why didn't you tell me that you knew Ladybug's identity?"

Wait, what?

"Um, w-what do you mean?"

"I mean, Nino told me that you knew who Ladybug is. How did you find out? Is she in our school?" he asked, a smile lighting up his face once more. His voice rose slightly with every sentence and she vaguely got the impression of a boy on Christmas. "Do I know her already?"

"...What?"

"I know that it's probably not something you should tell me, but I really, really need to talk to her. I might have messed up and she misunderstood something, and I need to clear it up with her as soon as possible. Can you tell me who she is? Or at least get her to meet me somehow?"

"She...misunderstood?" She didn't dare trust that swell of hope in her chest.

This time, it was Adrien who blushed. He scratched the back of his neck. "Er, something like that. I just—I need to talk to her. Is that okay? Can you tell her?"

Marinette was silent. She couldn't meet his eyes even if she tried; Adrien seemed to be feeling just as flustered suddenly and was looking away. A bright red tinted both of their faces.

But as usual, that pesky little voice in the back of her mind just had to speak up, and a thought came across her mind. She glanced up at his face.

"What if...What if it was me who confessed?"

"What?" Adrien was taken aback, confused. He flushed. "W-What are you talking about? Who said anything about a confession?"

"I-I mean," she dropped her gaze again, her face beet red. "If it was me who confessed instead of, um, Ladybug...would you reject me?"

"If it was you…?" Adrien shook his head, his eyebrows drawing together. "Wait, how do you know that Ladybug confessed? Did she tell you?"

"You can say that," she mumbled. "But if I confessed instead of her, what would you do?"

Adrien didn't answer immediately. He started to, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he closed it again, a blush on his face. He bit his lip.

"I...I couldn't accept," he finally answered with a frustrated sigh, running his hand through his hair. He frowned. "I mean, I like you but...it doesn't feel right to chase two girls at the same time. If it weren't for Ladybug...I'm sorry."

"'If it weren't for Ladybug'…?" She looked at him, a quizzical look on her face. Her nervousness momentarily forgotten, Marinette raised her eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Adrien shrugged apologetically, not quite meeting her gaze. "I think...If it weren't for Ladybug, I would—probably—have accepted your confession. You're smart, creative, and one of the nicest people in our class. But I like Ladybug. I can't—It just doesn't feel right for me to like two different girls at once. If Ladybug had never existed, I...I would have most likely fallen for you instead eventually. But she does exist, and I can't accept your feelings. I'm sorry," he apologized again. By now, his face was even redder than hers, which was really saying something.

Marinette gaped at him, not quite believing her ears. All this time, all those months up until now, she could have been withAdrien if it weren't for _herself_? Fate must have had a field day setting this up.

"A-Anyways, can you let her know that I'd like to speak with her? If you want to, of course. I don't want to be rude—It's totally fine if you don't want to since, well, yeah…" Adrien trailed off awkwardly, his ears still red.

"Um…" Is this what they called the perfect time to confess? Or in her case, the perfect time for a reveal? "A-Adrien?"

"I—I have to go," he said abruptly, cutting her off. He started to brush past her.

"Wait, Adrien—"

"I'm sorry, I have to go think about...stuff," he muttered as he opened the door. He was frowning again, but not at her. "I'll see you later."

Without waiting for her answer, he left.

Nino tapped his foot impatiently. Where the heck did that boy go? Where the heck did _Alya_ go? You'd think that either his best friend or girlfriend would keep him updated on stuff like this but no, he had to go and make friends with people who had a habit of disappearing without telling him stuff. Seriously, things would be much simpler if these people actually _communicated_. Middle school just _had_ to have tear-your-hair-out-in-frustration-level drama. Man, if there was this much drama in middle school, he was so not looking forward to high school.

A glimpse of blond hair from his left caught his eye. He turned, just in time to see Adrien plodding towards him, the skip from earlier gone. Instead, the model seemed to be deep in thought, if the barely focused eyes and downward turn of his lips were anything to go by.

"Dude, where have you been? Lunch is almost over. C'mon, we gotta get back to class. You know how Ms. Mendeleiev is when we're late."

"Uh, yeah." Adrien shook his head, his eyes clearing a bit. "Yeah. Let's go."

They began walking. Nino glanced over curiously at his friend.

"So?"

"Huh?"

"What happened? Where'd you go?"

"I, uh," Adrien scratched the back of his head, an uncertain look on his face. "I think Marinette confessed to me…?"

"Oh. And?"

"What, no surprise?"

"Again, not much surprises me anymore. Seriously. At this point, a giant could burst through my front door and tell me that I'm a wizard or something and I'd still be relatively chill about it. Plus, Marinette has kinda been heads over heels for you for a while now so…"

"What? Since _when_?"

"Uh, I think Alya's exact words were 'since tall blond and handsome waltzed into our school.'"

"Seriously?" Then as an afterthought, "I'm not tall."

"'Short blond and handsome' doesn't exactly sound as cool," Nino said rolling his eyes. "Alya said that just about every girl in class knew. I mean, you kinda have girls throwing themselves at you on the street. I dunno how you didn't realize sooner."

"I mean...I didn't want to assume anything," Adrien said slowly. "I just thought that she still didn't completely like me after that first day. How long have you known?"

"Since Alya told me," Nino admitted. "But hey, I'm not the one she's crushing on. And honestly dude, after Alya told me, it was pretty obvious."

"'Obvious,' huh. Didn't you just say that you didn't know until Alya told you?"

"Hey, better knowing late than never. So now what? You're gonna go out with her?"

Adrien grimaced. "That's the problem. I can't."

"What do you mean you 'can't'? Is someone forcing you not to? Dude, should I call the police?"

" _No_ ," Adrien said, shaking his head. "I mean, it's just...I like _Ladybug_."

"What's wrong with Marinette?" Nino frowned. Even from his point of view, he couldn't really think of any flaws with Marinette. Sure, the girl wasn't perfect, but she was fairly popular and extremely talented in more than one areas.

"Nothing's wrong," Adrien said quickly. "She's kind and smart and…"

"Then what's the problem? She's not your type?"

"It's not that…"

"So she _is_ your type."

" _Nino_."

He laughed. "Dude, are you blushing?"

" _No_ ," Adrien said firmly, turning his face. "I mean, it's just that Ladybug already confessed to me. And I like _Ladybug_."

"Adrien, my man, I'm about to blow your freaking mind. Did you know that it's possible to like more than one person at the _same time_? Boom. Mind. Blown."

"I know that," Adrien replied, rolling his eyes. "But it just feels wrong, y'know? How can I chase after two different girls and be serious about both? And that doesn't solve my problem right now if _both_ of them confessed to me."

"Oh, trust me, your problem is a lot simpler than you think," Nino muttered, coming to a stop at the classroom door. Then, raising his voice, he said, "Dude, just do what feels right to you. Just try not to break either of their hearts or Alya will come after you with an axe."

"That's the problem, Nino. I don't know what feels right. I thought that being with Ladybug feels right but rejecting Marinette somehow feels wrong," Adrien groaned. "Is there a third option I can choose?"

"If there is, I can't help you with finding it," Nino chuckled as he opened the door. "But hey, good luck. Try not to get murdered by Alya in the end."

"I'll try," Adrien answered dryly, stepping into the classroom.

He's an idiot, Marinette thought dryly as the two boys entered the classroom. Actually, we're both idiots. Is this what people mean when they say middle school is the most cringeworthy time of their lives? It wasn't like Alya could help this time either, even if she was here.

She was about to tap Nino on the shoulder asking about Alya when Ms. Mendeleiev walked in, a small stack of papers in her arms.

"Alright class, settle down," Ms. Mendeleiev snapped, setting the papers down on her desk. "Next person I catch talking gets an extra worksheet for tonight. Anyone want to volunteer? No? That's what I thought."

She adjusted her glasses as she gave a stern glare at the room. "Now, I know that you're all very eager to learn about electron orbitals as we had planned for today turns out, there has been a change of plans. We have a guest today. Why they had scheduled her to interrupt a _science_ class is beyond me but I expect you all to give her your full attention. Anyone, and I mean _anyone_ , caught looking at their phones or otherwise not paying attention can go ahead and walk themselves to the principal's office. Is that clear?" Was it just her imagination, or did Ms. Mendeleiev give Adrien a look when she said that?

After the class mumbled "Yes, Ms. Mendeleiev" the woman nodded and picked up the stack of papers again, hanging half to each half of the room.

"To make up for the missed lesson, I'll be assigning extra homework. These are due _tomorrow_ , no excuses. Refer to chapter nine, sections one and two. Now pass these back as I go fetch our guest. There will be _no_ talking when I come back, understood?"

The class groaned, but once again mumbled their agreement. Satisfied, Ms. Mendeleiev left the room after giving the class one last stern look.

"Ugh, look at the length of these questions! She already assigned a packet due tomorrow already too," Nino complained, handing the stack to Adrien after taking one for himself.

"I'm sure they're not as bad as they look," Adrien replied absentmindedly, giving the sheet a quick glance as he took one. "It's only...a dozen questions each side."

"'Only'? Man, if it's that easy for you then be my guest and do mine for me," Nino joked.

"Sure, if you pay me enough," Adrien retorted, chuckling as he turned around. The second that he did so, he froze, his eyes flickering away as soon as they met Marinette's.

He passed the stack to her without a word, turning back around before she could catch a good look of his face. The tips of his ears did seem suspiciously pink, but she wasn't sure if whether that was a trick of the light or not.

She handed the stack behind her, after taking one for herself and Alya. She still wasn't sure where the other girl had gone or why she wasn't answering her text messages, but other than asking Nino or Adrien about it, she couldn't do much but wait.

The last of the papers were just finished being passed out when Ms. Mendeleiev stuck her head back into the room, her eyes narrowing in warning before opening the door completely. The teacher walked in, arms crossed as if this interruption of her lecture was the single greatest insult anyone could have given her. Following behind her was a woman, clearly of importance wearing an elegant blouse and a pencil skirt, flanked by two men in suits. Strangely, as the woman come to a stop in the front of the room and turned to face the class, Marinette felt a sense of familiarity, almost as if she'd seen this woman before.

Before she could wonder about where on earth she had seen the woman before, another person strode into the room. And unlike the newcomers, this person was no stranger.

It took all of Marinette's self-control to not squeak out Alya's name right then and there. Alya, on the other hand, merely gave Marinette a small wave, a smug victorious grin on her face.

"Class, this is Ms. Schuylar," Ms. Mendeleiev began, gesturing to the woman. "Ms. Schuylar here is the eldest daughter of the French Minister of Defense. She has personally offered to talk to one of the classes here today, so I expect everyone to be on their _best behavior_. Ms. Schuylar?"

The woman smiled at the class. "Please, call me Angelica."

 _"Who doesn't know Ladybug? She's the hero of Paris, after all."_

 _"Young love, eh? I'll get him for you in a little bit. Go to the staircase at the entrance hall; I'll get him to go meet you there."_

 _"I know the feeling of finding love at a dance. My father actually holds quite a bit of power, you see. Don't worry about it; I'll send the boy over after taking Alex here to a certain someone."_

Angelica, Marinette realized with a start. The woman from that night; the same woman who had helped her get Adrien. She could hardly recognize her without the unholy amount of pink. What on earth was Angelica doing here?

"As your teacher had mentioned earlier, I'm the eldest daughter of the French Minister of Defense. I happen to be in Paris for a social event and was planning on leaving later today. However, I was convinced to make a quick visit to this school, thanks to your classmate, Alya." Angelica gestured to Alya whose grin only widened at the mention.

"I know that I'm interrupting your class time, so I will keep this brief. Agreste," Angelica's eyes landed on Adrien, as did everyone else's. "Do you remember me?"

Adrien nodded hesitantly. "You're—"

"You're the woman who took Adrikins away from me!" Chloe shrieked. Ignoring the sharp look from Ms. Mendeleiev, her face scarlet from anger. Next to her, Sabrina cowered slightly. It was strange, but Marinette brushed it off.

Angelica turned to the girl, her eyes immediately hardening. "Ah yes, I remember you too. Ms. Bourgeois," came the steely reply.

"What are _you_ doing in here?" Chloe demanded. At this point, the girl had half risen from her seat. In contrast, Sabrina looked as if she was trying to melt into her seat as much as she could. "Don't tell me you're going to try and take my Adrikins away from me; he's _mine_."

"Actually, I came for a different reason," Angelica replied coolly, gesturing for the men behind her to stay put as they started to take a step towards Chloe. "It still involves you, however. I would watch my tongue if I were you."

Fully standing now, Chloe crossed her arms, glaring at Angelica.

"I don't—"

"How big of a scandal do you think your father can cover up?" Angelica interrupted. "I know he must regularly cover up your attitude towards, well, everyone. But how far can he stretch his protection for you? Mistreatment of workers? A few broken school rules? Or perhaps... something illegal as well?"

The class was silent. Ms. Mendeleiev, who had been silently staring daggers at Chloe ever since the girl had first spoken up, was now seething. The science teacher didn't know the details of Angelica's visit, or even what the other woman was implying in the first place. What she did know, however, was that not only had Chloe spoken out of turn, but the girl had also insulted one of the most important guests that the school had ever had. In her class while she was in the room no less. And that, was something unforgivable.

"Chloe Bourgeois," Ms. Mendeleiev said icily, pushing up her glasses. "Would you care to explain what Ms. Schuylar is talking about?"

Chloe flushed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, but I think you do," Angelica said, casually crossing her arms. "You see, Alya here was telling me about some very interesting things about you. Now normally that wouldn't warrant enough interest from me to visit but since we've had a delightful meeting the other night, I couldn't help but take an interest in what she had to say. Especially after she told me about some of the more...serious things."

"And you'd listen to _her_? The wannabe reporter who has no money or power?" Chloe retorted, flipping her hair. "A real reporter would have some _proof_. Show me your proof before you begin accusing me, otherwise my dad will hear about this."

"Your father _will_ hear about this," Angelica shot back. "Your father may be a mayor, but mine holds far more power than your father does. And cover ups don't work nearly as well when someone of higher power hears about it. Breaking and entering, destruction of personal property, and, not to mention, stealing. Sound familiar?"

"You have no _proof_ ," Chloe suddenly shrieked, her hands slamming down on her table. Next to her, Sabrina flinched. Chloe pointed at Angelica.

"You come in here, interrupting my class, insulting and accusing me without proof! The only proof you have is _Alya_ , someone you met like, what, today? _How dare you_?"

"Chloe, you will watch your tone!" Ms. Mendeleiev snapped. "Ms. Schuylar is—"

"A liar!" Chloe said, her face positively beet red from anger now. "And I want her out of my sight _now_!"

"You do not make those kinds of demands in my classroom!" Ms. Mendeleiev said furiously. "Ms. Schuylar is a guest of honor and she _will_ be respected, is that clear?"

"But she—"

" _Do I need to repeat myself, Ms. Bourgeois? I asked, is that clear_?" Ms. Mendeleiev all but snarled, causing an involuntary cower in every student in the room. In the whole year that the students have had her so far, they had never seen the woman this aggressive. Strict, yes, but never downright aggressive. The sternest that they had seen her was when someone wasn't paying attention to class. Even Chloe had flinched.

Huffing, Chloe gave a small, reluctant nod but continued to glare at Angelica as she sat down.

"Now sit down before I put you in detention for the rest of the _year_. Ms. Schuylar?"

"Thank you, miss…?"

"Mendeleiev."

"Ah, yes. That's right," Angelica said apologetically. She looked at the other woman with newfound respect. "Thank you, Ms. Mendeleiev."

"Not a problem at all, Ms. Schuylar."

Angelica nodded, smiling. Then she made a small gesture. One of the men behind her took a step forward. He was a rather burly man, one who was clearly not completely accustomed to wearing a suit. A large scar ran down the left side of his face, his eyes narrowed. From behind his back, he produced a smartphone, contained within a small plastic bag.

"My phone!" Adrien gasped, earning a quick glare from Ms. Mendeleiev. "How—"

"Mr. Agreste, can you confirm that this phone is yours?" Angelica asked, giving a nod to the man who then stepped closer to Adrien and held the phone out for him to inspect. Adrien only gave the device a quick look before looking back up at the woman, nodding.

"It is, but how…?"

"Can you explain to us where and when you lost track of it?"

"F-Friday, after school. I was out shopping and I must have dropped it somewhere. Why? Where did you find it?"

"In Ms. Bourgeois's room," Angelica replied smoothly. Chloe began to stand back up but was stopped by Ms. Mendeleiev as the teacher had moved to stand next to her seat. "We obtained a warrant, you see, after we received a tip. It seems that we were right to rush one. It was sitting on her desk in plain sight."

"In Chloe's…?" Adrien turned to look at Chloe in confusion. "What were you doing with my phone?"

"I found it," Chloe replied immediately. Instead of looking at Adrien, she continued to glare at Angelica as she spoke. "I didn't _steal_ it. Adrikins left it in one of the stores we went to and I was going to give it back, but I forgot. Is that a crime?"

"You forgot? How convenient. And here I thought it was to stop him from checking his phone to see that his friends have been trying to reach him. Would you like to take a guess on why they were trying to reach him?"

Chloe stayed silent, her only answer being her glare.

"Apparently, someone had destroyed their friend's handmade dress for the contest that Adrien's father was holding that night along with the girl's invitation. What's more, both items were in her room when it happened. It seems like someone was determined to stop her from going. The only chance of going was to get another invitation to get inside, but unfortunately, Adrien couldn't be reached, could he? Did you not notice all the calls and texts that his phone was receiving?"

"It was on silent. In my purse," came the gritted reply.

"And you didn't think to inform him of all the messages once you saw it?"

"What is this, an interrogation?" Chloe retorted. "Should I get a lawyer? His phone had died by the time I checked; it was on my desk because I was charging it and forgot to bring it to school. Are we done yet?"

"Almost. Alya?"

On cue, Alya quickly rummaged in the bag before pulling something out. Chloe's glare faltered.

Angelica took the ripped invitation from Alya, raising an eyebrow at Chloe. "Do you know anything about this?"

"I—"

"I did it!" Sabrina's sharp cry startled everyone, including Chloe. The girl took a shaky breath before continuing, refusing the meet the eyes of anyone.

"I... I went into Marinette's room and cut up her dress," Sabrina said quietly, her voice barely audible even with the silence in the room. Eyes flickered to Marinette. "I used the scissors on her desk. Then I tore up her invitation and left it there."

Sabrina stood up, her gaze lowered. Tears welled up in the girl's eyes. The silence stretched in the room. Even Ms. Mendeleiev seemed to be at a loss for words. Angelica and Alya exchanged a glance of uncertainty; clearly neither of them had expected such a confession.

"I'll accept any…any punishment you decide to give me," Sabrina continued, still refusing to meet anyone's gaze. The girl's hands were clenched tightly in front of her and shaking ever so slightly.

"You're the culprit? Were you forced?" Angelica asked. Sabrina shook her head adamantly.

"I-I acted alone."

Angelica raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Sabrina nodded quickly.

"No you didn't. Sabrina, we know that Chloe made you. You wouldn't have done this on your own. Why...Why are you protecting her?" Alya asked, frowning. But Sabrina only shook her head again, her lips drawn into a determined line.

"I... was jealous. Of Marinette's dress. So I destroyed it."

"Bull—"

"Sabrina, was it?" Angelica said, cutting Alya off. Sabrina flinched at her name but nodded. Angelica studied the girl quizzically, a thoughtful frown on her face.

"Ms. Mendeleiev, may I speak with you outside for a minute?" Angelica finally said, motioning for one of the men behind her to follow. The teacher nodded, following the woman outside.

It wasn't until the door had closed behind them that Nino immediately spoke out.

"Sabrina, why are you lying? Like, everyone here kinda already knows that you don't do those kinds of things unless Chloe tells you to. You don't need to hide it."

Murmurs of agreement followed. Sabrina ignored them.

"B-But isn't that going too far? Even Chloe wouldn't do something like that...right?" Rose piped up uncertainty. "Maybe there was a mistake somehow? Sabrina wouldn't do something like that either…"

"She admitted it though," Alix pointed out. "Isn't it clear that she did it then?"

"Sabrina wouldn't do something that awful! And not to Marinette," Rose argued. "Maybe she has another reason for lying."

"Yeah, like protecting Chloe."

"Chloe isn't that awful either!"

"Rose, you're too nice," Alix groaned. "Are you seriously going to defend Chloe? Like, seriously?"

"Chloe wouldn't go that far," Kim shot back.

"Dude, have you forgotten Valentine's Day already?"

"Shut up, Nino."

"I believe, in my opinion, that it would be best to ask the girl in question," Max said, pushing up his glasses. "Since she is here with us after all. And taking Chloe and Sabrina's friendship into account, it is extremely likely that Sabrina is covering up for Chloe in this case. The next likely probability is that there is another unknown variable causing Sabrina to take the blame, as Sabrina's personality isn't the kind to do this kind of thing on her own."

"Oh, come on, it's already obvious that Chloe is behind this. Sabrina is just covering for her," Alya said, shaking her head. "How can you guys not see that?"

"Or maybe we just don't know Sabrina as well as we think," Kim suggested, sitting back.

"Highly unlikely," Max replied. The boy frowned. "Although it may not matter either way if she insists on being the culprit. There is no proof otherwise."

"How about you all stop talking about us like we're not here?" Chloe snapped irritably. "I dunno, just a thought. And Sabrina, sit down already. And stop crying. Geez."

"It was totally Chloe," Alix muttered.

"Right. Like Sabrina is such an angel."

"Shut _up_ , Kim," Chloe snapped, turning. "Everybody just, like, _shut up_. You're all just believing this random woman without any _proof_. Seriously?"

"Without any proof? You can barely back yourself up," Alya retorted.

"Please, I don't need to defend myself. You got nothing on me."

"Really? Cause I think most people here already know that you're the only one in this class evil enough to do something like this."

"Now listen here b—"

The door opened, instantly quieting the whole class once more.

Angelica walked in, the other two adults in tow. Sabrina stood up once more, her head down.

"Alya, you can go to your seat. Sabrina, you are to go to the principal's office," Angelica said matter of factly. "I believe your principal would like to have a talk with you as he contacts your father. Marinette, we'll be contacting your parents soon as well to determine the legal consequences."

"What? _Why_? Chloe's the one behind it," Alya protested. "Almost everyone here knows that! Sabrina wouldn't do stuff like that on her own. Pick any one of us to testify!"

"Sabrina has admitted to the crime. Unless she says otherwise, we do not have proof that Chloe did anything wrong. Now go to your seat," Ms. Mendeleiev said sternly. "Sabrina, gather your belongings."

"But—"

"To your seat. Now. Or do I need to repeat myself once more?"

Alya scowled. "What, so Chloe just gets to get away with this? That's not _fair_."

"Al, calm down," Nino said placatingly. But Alya shook her head stubbornly. She turned to Angelica.

"You know Chloe's behind this! How can you let Sabrina take the blame and let Chloe get away? I thought you believed me," Alya said angrily. Angelica only shrugged apologetically.

"It's the only thing we can do. We don't have proof right now that Chloe had anything to do with the dress. Maybe if Chloe's fingerprints turn up on the ripped invitation— "

"They won't. Don't you get it? She forced Sabrina to do all of that. I explained this already," Alya said exasperated. "That's why I asked for your help in the first place!"

"I'm sorry," Angelica said apologetically. "But without evidence…"

"Would Sabrina admitting that Chloe made her do it work as evidence against Chloe?"

Both Alya and Angelica looked at Nino. He scratched his head. "I mean, cause—"

"I-I'm ready t-to go," Sabrina interrupted quickly, wiping at her eyes. She had her bag in hand already, a hint of panic on her face. She began making her way to the door, her eyes firmly kept straight ahead.

Nino frowned. "Sabrina—"

" _I_ did it," she said adamantly, albeit a little quickly. She paused as she passed Nino's seat to give him brief, wavering glare before continuing past.

Nino turned to Adrien, conflicted. He gestured to his phone, but Adrien shook his head, a troubled expression on his face. He looked at Alya.

Seeming to catch onto something in Nino's expression, she suddenly reached out as Sabrina passed, taking a gentle hold of the girl's wrist. Sabrina stopped, her confusion nearly matching Alya's. For a moment, both girls merely stared at each other.

It was Alya who spoke first.

"Why?" Alya asked softly. It was so soft that even Marinette, who was fairly close to the front of the room, could hear it. She doubted that anyone any further away heard Alya's question.

Sabrina lowered her head, just enough so that her hair curtained her face, hiding it from the class. However, the signature white headband that the girl wore managed to keep some out of the way and Marinette could just make out the girl's lips moving in a reply, a reply that was far too quiet for her to hear. Alya's expression changed to one of surprise mixed with another emotion that Marinette just couldn't quite place. Alya released Sabrina's wrist, allowing the other girl to continue making her way to the door.

"Wait!"

Eyes turned to Chloe. The blond girl had her lips drawn into an angry, straight line. Blotches of red colored her cheeks, but not the usual kind. Marinette had seen Chloe angry before, but something seemed different this time. Whether if it was a different shade of red in her face, or a different tone of voice, Marinette didn't know. But she did know that something was off. Chloe crossed her arms.

"Sabrina, come back here," Chloe ordered. Yet, despite the girl's sharp tone, her voice seemed to falter just the slightest at the end. She cleared her throat.

"I made Sabrina do it, okay? So, like, hurry up and sit down already," Chloe said impatiently as she stood up, slinging her purse over her arm. From the front of the room, Angelica and Ms. Mendeleiev exchanged a look.

"W-What?" Even Sabrina could barely hold in her own surprise, her tears temporarily forgotten. "N-No you didn—"

"Oh, _shut up_ already. I don't _need_ you to protect me like some white knight," Chloe snapped. "I did it, alright? I can totally handle my own mess. Lord knows your dad can't afford to take a hit like this. So, unless you want to insult me by implying that your dad is better than my dad at handling a scandal, you'd get back over here. Like, _now_. Geez."

"But Chloe—"

"Are you seriously going to make me repeat myself Sabrina? Shut up and get back in your seat. Now."

Sabrina's lip trembled. " _I did it_."

"Yeah well I made you. _I_ did it."

"No you didn't!"

"Are you defying me?" Chloe glared at the other girl. To Marinette's surprise, Sabrina glared right back. The scene was almost comedic.

"Yes! I am!"

"Oh really?" Chloe's voice was like ice. "Then we're no longer friends. Which means, you don't have to cover for me anymore."

But Sabrina shook her head stubbornly. "I did it."

Chloe gave an irritated huff. "You know what? Fine, you can admit all you want. _I'll_ be going now." She began to walk towards the door, but Sabrina stood her ground, seemingly ready to bar the way. Chloe simply rolled her eyes but continued walking towards the girl. She came to a stop in front of Sabrina.

Without warning, Chloe lunged forward, reaching into Sabrina's short's pockets. Sabrina squeaked in surprise, nearly falling backwards just as Chloe pulled away, her prize in hand. After fiddling with it for a second, she tossed the phone to Angelica, who caught it in surprise.

"Scroll up to, like, I dunno, a few days ago. I told Sabrina to do it over text. There's pictures and stuff so that should be enough, right? And, for the record, I did _not_ do it because I was jealous or anything. And I am _not_ confessing for Sabrina's sake. I'm just sick of watching her cry, okay? You look absolutely hideous when you cry like that," Chloe said in disgust, directing the last part at the girl in front of her. "I don't ever want to see you cry again, got it?"

Sabrina sniffled. "But Chloe…"

Chloe ignored her, instead pushing past the girl. Without another word or glance back at the room, she opened the door and left, letting the door slam shut behind her.

Nino whistled. "Wow, front row seats to a drama I didn't know I signed up for." He was quickly shut up by a stern glare from Ms. Mendeleiev who had begun quietly ushering Sabrina back to her seat.

"That wrapped up nicely. Well, nice enough anyways," Angelica amended, passing the phone to the man next to her. She smiled at Alya. "As promised, I've done my part."

Alya gaped at her. "Did you know Chloe would do that?"

Angelica shrugged. "I wasn't sure. And first I needed to know more about both of their personalities, just in case I couldn't trust you. Ms. Mendeleiev helped me gain more insight on the both of them. I wouldn't have let Sabrina leave the room; Chloe just happened to prove herself a better person than I initially thought at the last second."

"With due respect, Ms. Schuylar, my classroom isn't a place to serve vigilante justice," Ms. Mendeleiev said dryly. "I was told you were here to give a lecture—the academic kind."

"I assure you it won't happen again. To compensate for the trouble, I have already arranged for a donation to the science department. I'm sure you'll be pleased with the amount," Angelica replied smoothly. She turned to the class.

"I apologize for interrupting your class time. I would love to stick around but I have a flight to catch," she said with a smile. "It was nice meeting you all."

She turned to leave, one of her men quickly moving to open the door for her.

"Thank you, Angelica," Alya said, stepping aside.

"You're welcome. It was nice meeting you, Alya," Angelica said, patting the girl gently. "I hope we can meet again one day." Alya shot a meaningful glance at Marinette.

"M-Ms. Schuylar?"

Angelica paused by the doorway. Marinette flushed.

"Um, thank you," she mumbled. Angelica smiled.

"It was my pleasure. I told you I owed you one, didn't I?"

Then she left, leaving a confused Marinette. Nino turned around.

"The heck did you do for her?"

"Nothing, I think," Marinette replied, frowning. She was sure that this was her first time meeting the woman as a civilian. Unless Angelica had traveled incognito before. But she didn't recall ever doing anything significant to be owed a favor. Marinette was a lot of things including being forgetful but even she would remember something like this.

"Are you sure? Was that your first time meeting her?" Alya asked, slipping into her seat. The girl tilted her head inquisitively at Marinette. "I mean, she did say she owed you."

"I'm pretty sure...Maybe she mistook me for someone else," Marinette said with uncertainty. It seemed unlikely, she doubted that someone as important as Angelica would go out of her way for just anyone. Sure, Angelica did help her out when she was Ladybug but that was only because the woman had insisted on owing her…

 _"I told you I owed you one, didn't I?"_

Marinette's eyes widened. It couldn't be…

"Alright, settle down," Ms. Mendeleiev said, pushing up her glasses. "Since Ms. Schuylar left earlier than expected, we will continue with our lesson plan. I don't want to hear any complaints—Nathaniel, put your book away—everyone take out your textbooks."

"Wait, Alya, what did you say to Ms—Angelica, exactly?" Marinette whispered hurriedly, pulling out her textbook. "Did you talk to her before today?"

"Uh, just a bit. Nino and I met her. Why?" Alya asked, flipping open her own textbook. She paused, eyes wide. "Oh yeah! That reminds me, about the ball—"

" _Quietly_ ," Ms. Mendeleiev snapped, glaring at the pair. "Turn to page 394."

Alya and Marinette both gave the teacher a sheepish look. As soon as the woman looked away, Alya pulled out a piece of scratch paper along with a pencil before starting to write.

"And I better not catch anyone passing any _notes_ ," the woman added without turning. Alya gaped at her.

"You're not even looking!"

"Then I suggest you put that away before I do," Ms. Mendeleiev replied shortly. "Turn to page 394."

Alya huffed but complied. Marinette gave her a wordless questioning look. She gestured to herself.

Being Marinette's best friend, Alya immediately knew what she was asking and shook her head.

Marinette slumped. She had expected such an answer, of course, but a tiny part of her had hoped to win. A movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention and she noticed Alya slowly pulling out the corner of an old assignment from the pages of her textbook. She watched as her friend slowly and silently wrote down two words.

 _Honorable Mention_

Marinette stared at the words in shock before a grin lit up her face. Honorable mention, although not prize worthy, meant her dress was noticed by Gabriel Agreste and that in itself was good enough of a prize.

Alya smiled, knowing that her friend was satisfied and hid the slip of paper before Ms. Mendeleiev could notice. Her work was not yet done of course, but that was one less thing to worry about and for the first time in days, she allowed herself to relax. There was just one thing left to do and with any luck, that would solve itself without any further intervention from her or Nino.

Just one thing.

Alya frowned. Actually, there was something else…

Making sure that Ms. Mendeleiev was completely faced away, she pulled out the same corner of the assignment out of her textbook and wrote a short sentence before lightly kicking Marinette's foot. Her friend glanced at her questioningly before Alya subtly gestured to the paper. Marinette's eyes widened.

"What?! Since when?!"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng! Perhaps you'd like to volunteer to read this section?"

"Sorry Ms. Mendeleiev," Marinette said sheepishly. Alya coughed, hiding her grin as she casually pulled the paper back into the pages of her textbook once again.

 _Nino and I are dating now btw_

Adrien left as soon as the bell rang, nearly forgetting to mutter a goodbye to his friends before he left. Although the goodbye was directed to all three of them, Adrien had somewhat obviously avoided looking at the girls behind them and kept his head turned away from Marinette altogether. This didn't come as a surprise to Nino as he had noticed his friend's silent confliction throughout class but Alya hadn't been updated yet and, as a result, immediately turned to Nino with her eyebrows raised.

Before she could even open her mouth, Nino had his phone in his hand and started typing a short text. Alya pulled out her own phone.

 _Ask Marinette_

Alya glanced back up at him for a second before turning to her friend. However, she wasn't the only one with questions.

"You're dating?! When? Why didn't you tell me?" Marinette exclaimed, her face a mixture of both surprise and glee. Her voice drew the attention of a handful of their classmates, mostly the other girls. Rose, most notably, perked up and whipped her head around to stare, an ear-to-ear grin on her face. When she noticed Nino looking at her, she gave him two thumbs up as Juleka tugged her away. Nino immediately looked away, the tips of his ears glowing pink.

Alya rolled her eyes but allowed a smile to slip onto her face. "I didn't have a chance to. We started dating this morning."

"What? And you didn't tell me? I thought we were friends," Marinette said, pretending to be insulted. Then she lightly whacked Alya in the shoulder. "It's about time!"

"I would have told you, but I was a bit caught up. I had to go chasing down a certain woman with a lot of power to throw around right after. Which reminds me," Alya narrowed her eyes. "What's this I hear about you not coming to class this morning? You didn't actually run from Adrien, did you? Is that why he's acting weird around you?"

Marinette turned red. Alya groaned.

"Marinette, I love you, but I swear I'm going to strangle you one of these days. With how you're acting, you might as well confess to him now cause it's kinda painfully obvious."

"Um, about that…" Marinette trailed off, her ears scarlet. She avoided meeting Alya's disbelieving eyes.

"No. You are not implying you confessed. This is not happening right now." She turned to Nino. "Did she confess?"

Then, without waiting for an answer, "Is that why Adrien was acting awkward earlier? Oh that boy is _dead_."

" _Al, wait, no_." Nino quickly held up his hands, creating a barrier between her and the door just as the girl turned on her heels, a murderous look in her eyes. "Think happy thoughts. Happy thoughts, Al. Marinette, say something."

"He didn't...completely reject me?"

Nino shot Marinette an exasperated look. "That is the most unconvincing thing I've ever heard in my life so far.""I am going to knee him so hard, all his grandchildren will be girls," Alya growled.

"Dude, what does that even mean?"

"Nino, I love you, but please move out of the way so I can hurt your best friend."

"Alya, I love you too, but no. Marinette, talk some sense into this girl before she castrates Adrien."

"I never said I was going to _castrate_ him."

"Um he did say that he would have liked me...if it wasn't for Ladybug," Marinette mumbled, her cheeks pink. "And... he was nice about it?"

"Okay, _now_ I am going to castrate him."

"Please don't castrate my best friend."

"You are either with me or against me, Nino. Can you believe that _dense_ idiot?!"

Nino shrugged. "I mean, considering everything so far...yeah, I can believe it. Look Al, he's obviously unsure now. The dude said it himself that he's conflicted. Plus, he's been thinking about it all class. I had to kick him under the table just to remind him to turn the page half the time. Shouldn't you, I dunno, give him some time to _figure things out_?"

Alya paused as Nino stressed the last few words. He hoped that she caught onto the meaning. Of course, he wasn't too worried about Marinette catching on because apparently, the girl was only slightly less dense than Adrien. Alya seemed to contemplate for a few seconds, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she did so. Then she turned.

Putting both hands on Marinette's shoulder, Alya said seriously, "If he gives you any more trouble, and I mean _anything_ , you have got to let me know so I can castrate him."

"You can't castrate him, Marinette wants kids, remember?"

"Nino, shut up before I castrate you too."

Marinette closed the door tiredly. Tikki immediately flew out of her trusty pink bag, making a beeline for her usual cookie jar.

As soon as class ended, Alya had insisted on all three of them hanging out together to celebrate. Marinette wasn't completely sure if everything that had happened warranted a full sweets tasting tour of Paris that ended with a dinner at her house, but Alya had insisted that after everything that they went through the past week, the trio more than deserved it.

Then she sighed. 'They,' huh? It was true that the three of them did hang out together up until ten minutes ago when Nino and Alya left after three servings too many of cakes and other sweets that her parents had insisted that they try after hearing that the trio went on a sweets tasting tour ("Why on earth would you go elsewhere when we can make some of the best sweets here?" her father had asked) but something had changed. She could tell that Alya and Nino tried their best to keep her from noticing out of consideration, but not feeling like a third wheel when you were obviously one was, well, hard. It wasn't their fault most of the time either. Most desserts were just simply not meant to be shared between three people, especially those with a heart design on it.

She shook her head.

It wasn't like she could blame them. In fact, she would probably be much worse if she had a boyfriend. Scratch that, she'd probably downright ignore all her friends without even realizing it if she began dating Adri—

She stopped her thoughts right there, her face turning pink. At the same time, she felt her chest squeeze in on itself as memories from the day started coming back all at once. Idly, she touched her earrings. She sighed again.

"If it weren't for Ladybug, huh?" For the someone who's special ability being "lucky charm," she definitely didn't have any of that luck in her civilian life. Across the room, Tikki looked up curiously, licking the last of the crumb from her hand. Marinette smiled at her.

"Thank you, Tikki."

Tikki tilted her head. "For what?"

"For...you know," Marinette shuffled awkwardly. "Sticking with me through...everything."

The kwami smiled, her eyes softening. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"I'll bake you a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies every day for the next month to make up for it," Marinette promised. Tikki giggled.

"I'll be looking forward to it. I'm just happy things are working themselves out for you now. You deserve it. Especially after that night. Speaking of which, what are you going to do?"

Marinette couldn't help but grimace. "I don't know. The only thing that I can do now is wait. I knew that Adrien liked Ladybug, but I didn't think that it was an actual _crush_. And he said that he likes me except he mostly just likes Ladybug but—"

"Um," Tikki interrupted, stopping Marinette's flood of words. "I mean, about _that_."

The kwami gestured towards a corner of Marinette's room. As Marinette followed Tikki's gaze, her eyes landed on a certain neatly folded black tailcoat in the corner of her room on top of her pink chest. Originally, she had tossed it inside the chest without giving it a second glance before crawling under her blankets, but the next day found her taking it out first thing in the morning and hugging it. It was pathetic, she knew, but a part of her longed to go back to that night in the park before her confession. As soon as she realized just what she was doing, she had tossed it back in again only to find herself taking it back out an hour later. After that, she settled on a compromise of setting it in view but refrained from touching it. Her pride was hurt enough as it was even without pathetically hugging onto the coat of her crush after being rejected.

"I'll give it back?" Her voice was unsure even to her own ears. She cleared her throat. "I'll just give it back to him the next time I see him as Ladybug."

"Will you see him again as Ladybug?"

"I…I don't know," Marinette admitted. She picked up the coat. The silver buttons gleamed up at her. As much as she wanted to, she wasn't about to keep the coat. Her mom had a habit of going into her room occasionally and having the coat would arouse far too many questions. No, she'd have to return it. She opened the chest and began rummaging around. Tikki flew up next to her head, peering down.

"Have you seen the white gift bag my mom gave me the last week?"

"The one you put by your bed?"

Marinette stopped. "By my bed?"

"You slipped it between your bed and the wall, remember? Why?"

"I'm going to leave the coat at his house in the bag. That way, I won't have to see him again as Ladybug," Marinette explained.

"You're going to avoid him?" Tikki asked dubiously. "I don't know...that didn't work out that well this morning…"

"This isn't running away from him kind of avoiding," Marinette defended, blushing furiously. "I mean, I thought I'd just leave it...with a note...or something."

Tikki sighed but said nothing more as the girl climbed up the ladder to her bed. After fishing around the slit between her bed and the wall for a bit, she finally pulled out a slightly wrinkled white gift bag. She tore off the small paper tag that came with it. It was the perfect size for the coat and, with a bit of washi tape, she could easily tape the top close so that it looked like a normal gift bag.

Well, as normal as a mysterious gift bag appearing at your house could get, she corrected herself. She frowned. Would they think it was a bomb somehow if she just left it on their front door? It wasn't like she could just talk up to the front gate…

A knock came.

Without turning her head, she automatically called out, "Come in!" She hastily stuffed the coat inside the bag, turning to the trap door that led to her room.

As she did so, she realized two things.

One, that knock didn't sound anything like the usual knock on wood from her trap door. And two, that knock came from the wrong direction than the trap door. It was too late that she realized that the knock came from her window. A nearly silent landing from above her caused her to start and she looked up just in time to see the door to her roof crack open, revealing none other than Chat Noir. The slightest flash of red from the corner of her eye told her that Tikki had ducked into hiding. She relaxed a little.

"You really shouldn't invite people in without seeing who it is first," Chat scolded playfully, holding up the door with one hand as he twirled his baton with his other before shrinking it and tucking it safely away.

She smiled. "Who else would it be coming in from somewhere other than the front door?"

"Maybe an admirer. Don't tell me you forgot about the Evillustrator already," Chat teased. Yet, as the words left his lips, she thought she saw something flash across his eyes. But just as quickly as the look had come, it had disappeared without a trace.

Marinette suppressed a small frown. She knew that she didn't imagine that. She also knew that she had known Chat long enough to know that something was off if him visiting her civilian identity wasn't already a giveaway. Maybe he came because he was worried about Ladybug? It would make sense after all as she had practically kept Chat in the dark for the past few days.

"May I come in?"

"Sure, of course." She moved aside as Chat landed on the bed on his hands, momentarily doing a handstand before pivoting and swinging his legs over the railings of her bed so that his feet not once touched her bed. She wouldn't have minded; since she normally landed right into her bed after coming back as Ladybug, she had learned to change her sheets often.

"Nice room," he commented, turning to smile at her. Once again, something seemed...off.

"Thanks. Why are you here?" she asked rather bluntly, forgetting to keep up her guise of being at least somewhat amazed by him. Instead of seeming surprised, Chat laughed, his feet lightly swinging over the edge of her bed.

"You mean I can't visit my friends?"

"Are we friends?" Marinette asked warily.

"We worked together before, didn't we?"

"Once," she said. Then she frowned. "But really, what's wrong?"

His feet came to a stop, his heels resting on the rails of her bed. He began idly picking at the lining of her blanket with one hand although he kept his gaze on her, his smile never leaving his face. She was suddenly struck with just how practiced his smile seemed, as if he'd spent hours perfecting in front of a mirror. What was strange was that it didn't seem at all unfamiliar to her. Like she had seen the smile before. But Chat rarely hid his feelings that way. Was it a trait from his civilian form?

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you haven't made a single pun since you've entered this room or bragged in the slightest. Not to mention you've never just randomly visited me before," Marinette said dryly. Chat looked at her curiously.

"How do you know I normally do all that?"

"Because that's all you do in the videos on the Ladyblog." It wasn't a lie. "And besides, Chat doesn't just smile. Chat smirks or grins. Are you really Chat?"

As if on cue, Chat grinned. "Can an impersonator look this handsome?"

"Didn't an akuma actually turn into an exact copy of you once?"

"That's different."

"Mhm. Really."

"It's true," he protested. "My lad—Ladybug was able to tell the difference which _proves_ that I'm much more charming than some copy."

Well, she hadn't really solved it based on his looks, but it wasn't like she could call him out on that. Instead, she drew her legs to her chest, resting her chin on top of her knees. She slightly tilted her head.

"Where is Ladybug, anyways? Isn't she your partner?" she asked, fake curiosity lining her voice as she pretended to glance out the window, looking for said superhero.

Chat held his grin, but his eyes wavered just the slightest at the mention of Ladybug's name. Again, his expression seemed forced. It was strange. She couldn't quite put her finger on what made it seem that way but whatever it was, she didn't like it.

"I'm here by myself today."

"Why?"

"You mean I need a reason to visit my biggest fan?" he asked playfully, starting to swing his legs again.

"I went from being a friend to a fan within two minutes. Thanks."

"What can I say, cats are fickle creatures."

"Evasive too apparently, since you won't answer my question," she replied. He didn't answer this, instead seeming to suddenly find great interest in her room decor.

"Chat."

"Mm?"

"What's going on?" she asked gently this time. And just like that, his facade fell.

"I... I need to think," he sighed. His legs stopped. His shoulders slumped as he pressed his lips into a frown, all traces of his usual behavior gone. She tilted her head, waiting for him to go on.

"I have...a friend," he explained slowly. "A very good friend. And she likes me."

Ah. Girl problems. She almost laughed. Considering his rather open flirting habits, Chat was the last person she'd think would trouble with girls of all things. She kept a straight face. "You don't like her?"

"No! Well, I don't _dislike_ her," Chat said quickly. "I mean, well, I kinda do, I think. But I didn't—I didn't realize until she confessed but I don't like her in that way. Maybe. I don't know," he said, suddenly frustrated.

"What's wrong with her?"

"There's nothing wrong with her," he said, frowning. "And that's the thing. There's nothing wrong with her. But, _Ladybug_ 's perfect. How can two people be so _perfect_?"

She felt a certain feeling rise in her chest at his words. "What's wrong with two people being perfect? And besides, if your friend is so perfect, what's the problem if she likes you? Don't you like her too?"

"But I like _Ladybug_ ," Chat groaned. Her heart skipped a beat, but she quickly buried the feeling. This was Chat she was talking about. She forced out a smile.

"Don't you mean you're obsessed with her?"

He made a face at her. "No."

"Chat, idolizing someone isn't the same as liking someone," she said. "There's a difference between liking someone and putting them on a pedestal. Ladybug's already made it clear to everyone that you two are just friends."

"I'm not idolizing her," he said stubbornly. She had a feeling that if his tail were truly a part of him, it'd be swishing. "I actually like her. I love her, Marinette. And I'll wait for her as long as it takes."

A blush heated her face. Luckily, Chat was looking away again. She swallowed.

"Then what's the problem?"

"It feels wrong."

"Liking Ladybug?"

"Rejecting my friend. I just...I don't know why it feels wrong. I know it shouldn't—I've rejected plenty of girls before so it shouldn't be a problem. But somehow, it was a problem. And I don't know why."

"Then why come to me?" she asked. He looked at her. It was probably a trick of the light but somehow, his face seemed to be tinted with the slightest hint of pink.

"Because I was hoping that talking to you would help me figure out why."

She let out a wry smile. "I didn't realize I was known as a love expert."

He sighed again. This was probably the most that she had ever seen Chat sigh in one week, let alone one night and despite herself, felt a twinge of pity and a sense of something else that she couldn't name.

"Sorry. I must be bothering you. I didn't mean to unload my problems onto you like that," he said apologetically.

"It's not a problem. It's just...unexpected," she said. Unexpected was an understatement. The day just kept on giving her more and more surprises apparently. "Are you hungry? Do you want some cookies before you go?"

His ears perked up, a grin instantly lighting his face at the word. She looked away, ignoring her urge to stare. What has gotten into her today?

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's not a problem. I'll go get some." She made her way to her ladder, making her way down. "I'll be right back. Don't move."

He gave a mock salute. "Wouldn't dream of it."

She rolled her eyes at him but made her way out her room, tiptoeing down the stairs. Although it was relatively early, her parents made a habit of sleeping soon after dinner in order to wake up before sunrise to get a head start on baking. Of course, she could have easily just taken from Tikki's supply of cookies in her room but that would probably raise more questions than she'd rather deal with right now. Her family may run a bakery, but she didn't want Chat thinking that she was some major sweet tooth obsessed with cookies.

After painstakingly loading a plate full of leftover cookies from today, she carefully made her way back to her room. Knowing her, the second that she got even remotely careless would be the same second she tripped and flung the plate at her parent's bedroom door.

As she tipped open the trapdoor and slide the plate onto the floor of her room, she let out her breath of relief.

"I'm back," she said softly, closing the door with an inaudible thud. She picked up the plate of cookies and looked up. He had his back turned to her, but kept his feet just barely dangling off her blankets. He seemed to be studying something on her bed.

"Chat?"

He started, turning. His face was positively red. "M-Marinette?"

She frowned. Had he found the spare tampons she kept in the side of her bed?

"Who else? Come down, I don't want to get crumbs on my bed." She set the plate down on her desk. Chat didn't budge.

"Is this...is this yours?"

She looked up. His face was still red. He didn't seem to realize that whatever he was referring to was outside of her sight as he didn't bother to hold up what he was referring to. Did she somehow leave a pair of underwear up there too during laundry?

"What are you talking about?"

Without warning, he hopped off the side of her bed, silently landing on her floor before striding over to her. He placed both hands on her shoulders.

"Marinette."

"Y-Yes?"

"Do you like me?" he asked bluntly.

"I—what?" She gaped on him, her face flushing.

"Do you like me?" he repeated, not breaking his stare.

"Chat, I've only talked to you like twice." She briefly wondered if he'd somehow gotten into the pot of catnip she'd been growing on her rooftop lately. Did catnip even have an effect on him? "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes. No. Mainly yes. Do you like me?"

"I don't hate you," she said slowly, picking his hands off her. She took a step back. "Chat, what's gotten into you? Is this your idea of a joke?"

"Just—Please answer me," He was almost pleading at this point. "What do you like about me?"

"Chat, you're scaring me. Are you having confidence issues?" she asked, worried. Chat was probably the most confident person she knew, but she'd often wondered if it was just an act he put up as a superhero, just like how she always seemed surer of herself as Ladybug. She was lucky of course, having Alya and other friends to help her whenever she got into one of those moods, but did Chat have anyone?

"Chat, I don't know you. In fact, I don't know almost anything about you. But even then, I can tell that you're one of the most trustworthy people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Yes, you goof off a lot, but you also do your best and expect the least. Most people think of you as Ladybug's sidekick and even though she's denied it, you've never denied it yourself. Instead, you accepted it. Which, by the way, is a really bad habit of yours," she said, frowning. "You're kind. You don't show it sometimes, but underneath all those stupid puns you make, you really do care for Paris and everyone. You've never once complained about going on nightly patrols, or when an akuma decides to show up in the middle of the day. And when it's raining, you always make sure to check on those stray cats you feed after patrols."

"You're impulsive. Sometimes, you go off and do things without thinking first. But you also listen and never question Ladybug, even when your life's on the line. When it really came down to it, you never did make a wrong choice even when it was tempting to. Most people couldn't resist at least once, no matter how minor or major. And the fact that you came to me worried about rejecting your friend tells me that you're not the player that most people think you are. So, to answer your question, Chat, I like a lot of things about you," she said, feeling another blush rise on her face as she finished.

Chat was silent, studying her as she waited for him to reply. His only movement was his chewing of his bottom lip as he seemed to decide something. Marinette took this as an opportunity to focus on calming down. She hadn't even realized that her heart had begun beating quicker as she spoke until after she finished and berated herself for it. She liked _Adrien_ , for crying out loud! She can't just go developing crushes on every other guy in her life. Not that this was a crush, she definitely didn't have a crush on Chat. It was just embarrassing talking about stuff like that, that's all.

Right?

"Are you happy now?" she finally said, breaking the silence. Chat didn't answer, only continuing to stare at her thoughtfully. Then, as if coming to a decision, he smiled. No, not one of those forced smiles from earlier, but an actual smile. A smile that she was used to seeing on Chat, but somehow slightly different like something that had been weighing on his chest had finally been lifted. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Yes. By the way, did you get all of that just from two meetings with me? My, I must have made quite an impression on you," he teased. "I'm honored."

She made a face. "Don't get full of yourself. There just happens to be a lot of videos of you out there. My best friend also runs the Ladyblog so it's hard not to see a lot of things about you. Speaking of you, do you get self-esteem anxiety at night sometimes? Are you okay?"

He laughed, surprising her. "Believe me, I'm more than okay. In fact, I'm purrfect."

"Wow. Just as I was beginning to celebrate the lack of puns," she said, rolling her eyes. Despite her words, a grin slipped onto her face. There was the Chat she knew and loved. "You could have just told me you needed a confidence booster."

"Nah. By the way, you have something of mine. Are you going to return it anytime soon?" His eyes twinkled.

She tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He gestured to her bed, his grin prominent on his face. Still confused, she only looked at him blankly. She was sure that he didn't find Tikki; the kwami was almost impossible to catch when she didn't want to be caught, as many games of hide-and-seek had taught Marinette. And she was sure that she didn't take anything from Chat, let alone keep it in her room.

"Go look," he encouraged. She eyed him warily.

"You didn't put something weird up there, did you?"

"I'm hurt that you have so little trust in me."

She rolled her eyes but made her way to the ladder of her bed. Chat followed, but instead of following her up the ladder, he simply leap up, grabbing onto the side railing before hoisting himself up with ease and balancing on the metal bar as he waited patiently for her to reach to top.

As her head cleared the level of her blankets, she finally noticed just what Chat was referring to. Her white gift bag, which she had left near her pillow, forgotten, was now turned over. The previously neatly folded black tailcoat was now laid in a careless heap on her blanket.

"You _looked through my stuff_?" Her voice came out sharper than she intended, annoyance overriding anything else.

"Technically, it's _my_ stuff," Chat said amusedly. "My coat to be exact."

"What?" She glared at him, not quite understanding. "That's not yours, that's A—a friend's. I told you not to move when I left!"

"And I'm telling you, that's my coat," he said slowly, his grin never leaving his face. "Mine. As in, that belongs to me. My coat."

"No it's not. That's my friend's coat."

"Marinette." He was clearly trying to not laugh at this point. "Take a second to think about what I'm saying. That's my coat."

She opened her mouth before closing it, frowning. Then her eyes widened.

She stared at him, wordlessly pointing at him as his grin grew impossibly wider.

"No."

"Yep." He was having far too much fun with this at this point and continued to watch her amusedly.

" _No_."

" _Yes._ Plagg, claws in."

"W-Wait!" Her hands flew up, covering her eyes just as the flash from his detransformation appeared. Her heart was hammering in her chest. If what he was implying was true, then the person in front of her was—

"Marinette?"

She kept her eyes shut tightly behind her hands. That voice, how did she not realize sooner? Both had seemed so _different_. On hindsight, it was the same voice, just used differently, connected with different versions of the same person. But still, she should have been able to realize sooner.

A hand brushed against her arm and she froze at the touch, unable to move.

"Marinette, please look at me."

She heard herself mumble something, but it came out more of a squeak than anything else. He chuckled at this and she felt ready to faint right then and there.

"You're scaring her," she heard another voice snigger. This voice was high, but not in a feminine way. More like a boy who was either going through one of the more awkward stages of puberty or someone who was sick and decided that helium was a great choice for medicine.

"Shut up, Plagg." His hand lightly trailed its way up to her fingers, gently attempting to pry them from her eyes. She didn't budge, just so that she could hide her burning face just a little while longer. Not that it mattered much, as she was certain that even her neck was a bright red. After a few seconds, he gave up.

"If you won't look at me, then you can listen at least," he said finally. Unable to find her tongue, she gave a small squeak in response.

"I came here tonight because I was confused. I couldn't figure out why I was confused. I was—I _am_ used to rejecting a lot of girls. But you, you were different. I didn't want to reject you. And I didn't know why. But then I realized that it was because I had fallen for you. Not just for the you as Ladybug, but you as Marinette as well. I like _you_. And judging by the number of pictures of me on your wall and your confession, I think you like me too. So please, Marinette, please look at me."

She felt a small pressure on the small of her back. Tikki. Taking a breath, she slowly lowered her hands.

Adrien beamed at her, and she nearly covered her eyes again right then and there as she actively remembered to keep her mouth shut. A small black cat kwami, who she assumed was Plagg, hovered around Adrien's shoulder, peering curiously at her through lazy half lidded eyes. She let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

"Adrien." Her voice was soft, nearly inaudible. She didn't even realize that she'd said his name out loud until he tilted his head.

"Yes?"

Letting out another tiny squeak, she buried her face in her hands again.

"I've been working with Adrien every day for the past _year,_ " she groaned in disbelief. "How—How did I not notice?"

He laughed. "And I've been sitting in front of Ladybug in class for a year. And was confessed to by Ladybug _twice_. And it still took me this long to figure it out. I guess we're both idiots."

She felt the bed shift a bit.

"Speaking of confessions, I think it's time I answer your confessions. Properly," he said softly. He was touching her again, cupping both her hands within his own as he slowly pried her hands away from her face. This time, she let him.

He was sitting directly in front of her now, her hands still held within both of his.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I like you. Both as Marinette and as Ladybug. And... if you don't feel the same way, after finding out that I'm Chat then—"

"I l-like you too," she interrupted, looking down. Her head was starting to feel woozy, too overwhelmed by everything and she struggled to keep a semi-working train of thought going. If she were one of those old cartoon characters, she was sure that her face would be glowing red. She wouldn't be surprised if she fainted right there just from how hard she was blushing.

His hands tightened around hers.

"Really?" Even without looking, she could hear the joy in his voice. "A-Are you sure? You really mean it?"

Mutely, she nodded.

One of his hands released hers and gently tilted her chin up and before she knew it, he had his lips on hers.

The kiss only lasted a second, a second was enough to completely stop her thoughts in their tracks. She dimly noticed that his face was nearly as red as hers as he reluctantly pulled away.

"In that case," he said, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. "I have another confession to make."

He held her hands again and smiled.

"Marinette, I love you."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Remember when I said I'd get the last chapter up the day after the last chapter? Lol.**

 **I spent the last month trying to remember where the heck I was going with this (prettttty sure I still forgot a lot of the stuff I was gonna put in) and I'm still confused by what past me had in mind. My bad.**

 **This story will be marked incomplete until I get around to plastic editing this story into something I myself can read without cringing too much. There'll most likely be a lot of notable changes when I do that so I'll post a short epilogue once the editing process is complete so you can know when to read the new and (hopefully) improved version of this.**

 **By the way, I'm a part-time teacher at a private school (I'm not even 20 yet lmao) and y'all think you're so slick with note passing and snide remarks. We notice. We just usually choose our battles. On the other hand, a single hug from a student literally makes my week even if we can't show it so show your teachers some love now and then :)**

 **Thanks for reading A Minute Until Midnight!**


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